LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
 
 4—' I 
 
 mpqt iMlt. 
 
 Sh.elf.^.M-4 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE CRISIS OF THIS WORLD 
 
 OR 
 
 THE DOMINION AND DOOM OF 
 THE DEVIL 
 
 4^/" 
 
 S. M. MERRILL 
 Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS % 
 NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
 1896 
 
 out-jr 1 
 
*% 
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 
 BY CRANSTON & CURTS, 
 
 1896. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 T^HIS booklet is a sermon enlarged. 
 A Its theme has no great attraction 
 for the average reader, but is of the 
 highest importance to all lovers of truth. 
 That the devil exists is a fact of tremen- 
 dous significance. It has to do with 
 almost every phase of Christian doctrine, 
 and enters largely into the views one en- 
 tertains of Christian experience, ethics, 
 and work. 
 
 It will inevitably occur to the reader 
 that this doctrine of angels perverted 
 into devils, pervades the Scriptures too 
 extensively, and in too great a variety of 
 ways, to have no substantial basis in fact. 
 It is impossible to construe the Scrip- 
 tural language on this subject as figura- 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 tive representations of myths or abstract 
 principles. The Bible recognition of bad 
 angels is as clear, as positive, as circum- 
 stantial, and as unmistakable as is its 
 recognition of good angels. Whatever 
 construction will exclude one class from 
 actual existence will exclude the other 
 class also. In our Savior's time the 
 Sadducees denied the existence of angels 
 and spirits, but the Pharisees confessed 
 both. Our Lord and his apostles took 
 the side of the Pharisees in this con- 
 troversy. If they did not teach the ex- 
 istence of angels, good and bad, their 
 words were wild and misleading, deceiv- 
 ing their own generation, and all the 
 generations following. 
 
 The question of demonology naturally 
 arises in connection with that of diabol- 
 ism, but the limits here imposed do not 
 admit of its elaboration. Whether de- 
 mons, as recognized in the New Testa- 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 ment, were the departed souls of mortals 
 who died in sin, or were a different order 
 of existences, is a question not easily 
 solved ; but no such difficult question 
 arises with regard to the devils which 
 fell from angelic ranks. Whatever the 
 nature or origin of demons, they are the 
 subjects of the devil's kingdom, and 
 under his sway. Their affiliation with 
 fallen angels is complete, and their work 
 and destiny the same. 
 
 Unless there is both diabolism and 
 demonism in the Scriptures, the book is 
 sealed to the understandings of men; its 
 narratives are fables, its parables are 
 riddles, and its revelations are as ambig- 
 uous as the oracles of pagan shrines. If 
 there are no devils, the Bible doctrine of 
 sin becomes more mysterious than ever, 
 and the manifestation of the Son of God 
 to take away sin and " destroy the works 
 of the devil, n assumes the character of 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 a spectacular farce. Indeed, one hesi- 
 tates to write the results of such dealing 
 with the Scriptures as is necessary to 
 eliminate this doctrine. 
 
 Recognizing the trend of popular 
 thought to be in the direction of disre- 
 garding the seriousness of this feature 
 of Divine revelation, and believing that 
 the lightness with which it is ordinarily 
 treated is subversive of vital piety, the 
 conviction intensifies with meditation 
 that some one ought to arrest the atten- 
 tion of the Church to the contents of the 
 Bible on this subject, and point out the 
 shallowness of the assumptions of so- 
 called u liberalism M which pass so cur- 
 rently in these days as evidences of 
 advanced thought. Wisdom demands 
 sobriety in the study of such a theme, 
 especially since superficiality has become 
 emboldened to assert itself with such un- 
 blushing audacity. The truth is neither 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 narrow nor illiberal, nor is it likely to 
 suffer permanently from the application 
 of opprobrious epithets. There is no 
 philosophy against it ; but there is need 
 that attention be drawn to first prin- 
 ciples and to the foundations. This 
 little book is an effort to do this. Let 
 it be read with the candor becoming the 
 issue, and whether the reader's prepos- 
 sessions accord with the current of its 
 thought or not, let not its conclusions 
 be thrust aside as antiquated and over- 
 literal, till its positions are overthrown 
 by the clearest possible expositions of 
 the Sacred Word. With a sincere desire 
 to encourage the study of the Holy 
 Scriptures, and to secure reverent atten- 
 tion to the voice of God with regard to 
 the profoundest mysteries of his uni- 
 verse, this little volume is sent forth to 
 find its mission. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 i. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Crisis of this World, n 
 
 II. 
 The Unpardonable Sin, 121 
 
 III. 
 
 The Duration of Punishment, 155 
 
 9 
 
I. 
 
 The Crisis of this World. 
 
 " Now is the judgment of this world i now shall 
 the prince of this world be cast out. 53 — john xii, 31. 
 
 SOMB Scriptures carry their meaning 
 on their face, so that they can 
 scarcely be misunderstood. Happily 
 this is true of all that relate to morals 
 and correctness of life; but in some in- 
 stances where doctrines are concerned, 
 and especially where the deep things of 
 God which relate to his purposes and 
 plans with reference to his triumph over 
 the evil forces of the universe are in- 
 volved, some study and careful meditation 
 are necessary in order to apprehend the 
 meaning of the expressions given. In 
 the passage just read there is obscurity, 
 
12 THE CRISIS. 
 
 which can only be removed by careful 
 analysis. It contains two distinct prop- 
 ositions, each one seeming to. be com- 
 plete in itself, while a little study reveals 
 mutual dependence, and shows partic- 
 ularly that the latter is explanatory of 
 the former. It is therefore necessary 
 that the two statements be considered 
 together, and, if possible, so as to bring 
 out the meaning of the entire passage. 
 
 Sometimes it is well in exposition to 
 recall, or in some way recognize, the 
 different views which have been taken 
 of the Scripture in hand, before indi- 
 cating the final interpretation to be in- 
 sisted upon as correct. This is a pre- 
 paratory exercise of the mind, and serves 
 to remove difficulties, and to awaken 
 anxiety to get at the truth, and to wel- 
 come it as a relief to the perplexities 
 which arise in considering conflicting 
 statements. 
 
THE CRISIS. 13 
 
 VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS. 
 Among the various interpretations of 
 this Scripture, which have received more 
 or less favor, two or three are worthy of 
 mention, and indeed must be considered, 
 in order to do justice to the claims set 
 forth in their behalf. Unfortunately for 
 the interests of sound exegesis, it too 
 often happens that hypotheses are 
 framed for the purpose of pressing the 
 obscure passage into the service of some 
 particular doctrine, rather than with an 
 unbiased aim to elicit exact truth. 
 Scarcely any portion of the Sacred 
 Word has escaped this ordeal, while 
 this particular passage has stood in the 
 presence of conflicting creeds like some 
 rocky fastness, or vantage-ground in a 
 great battle. The advocates of oppos- 
 ing doctrines have contended vigorously 
 for its possession and support. As one 
 looks upon the contentions of the past 
 
14 THE CRISIS. 
 
 which have raged around it, the fact 
 becomes apparent that it has been 
 called to do service for doctrines which 
 are foreign to its design and spirit, and 
 to which it can only be made to yield a 
 seeming support, under the manipula- 
 tions of a criticism which is either su- 
 perficial or violent. 
 
 It is evident that, whatever doctrine 
 may gain support or suffer loss by the 
 interpretation adopted, the sense of this 
 passage must be determined by the ap- 
 plication of the word "judgment." 
 This is its ruling term, and its mean- 
 ing must be ascertained before progress 
 can be made in the study of the propo- 
 sitions it lays down. It involves the 
 doctrine of the judgment to come in 
 some way, although that doctrine is not 
 its prominent thought. 
 
 There is an interpretation, which has 
 received favor from eminent authorities, 
 
THE CRISIS. 15 
 
 which carries with it no particular 
 heresy, and from which no serious re- 
 sults would follow if it were accepted; 
 but which, while plausible, can not be 
 supported by the whole passage, nor by 
 the application of other Scriptures con- 
 taining similar terms. It holds that the 
 words, "Now is the judgment of this 
 world," relate to a fact then about to 
 be accomplished, and which in a short 
 time was actually consummated. The 
 assumed fact is, that this world, through 
 its courts and with legal formality, was 
 about to judge and condemn its lawful 
 Prince and Ruler in the person of Jesus 
 Christ himself, and cast him out as a pre- 
 tender, and as one unfit to live. That 
 the powers of this world were about 
 to do this thing is indisputable; for 
 both the Jewish and the Roman author- 
 ities were ready to proceed against him, 
 and to pronounce the judgment of con- 
 
1 6 THE CRISIS, 
 
 demnation which would result in his 
 death. It was the hour and power of 
 darkness that now prevailed. Why, then, 
 is not this interpretation the true one, 
 since its adoption involves no false doc- 
 trine, nor any serious practical difficulty? 
 It lacks exegetical soundness. In one 
 respect it contravenes the truth. It im- 
 plies, or rather assumes, that the phrase, 
 "The prince of this world, " points to 
 him who uttered the words as the 
 "prince" intended. In a highly im- 
 portant sense, Jesus Christ was the 
 "Prince," the rightful Ruler, of this 
 world, and of other worlds; but he never 
 used this language with reference to 
 himself. Wherever this phrase occurs, 
 it designates another personage, an ac- 
 tual ruler in his sphere, but not a right- 
 ful ruler, whose expulsion from his do- 
 minion would be a wrong, or a disaster 
 to any interest of humanity. 
 
THE CRISIS. 17 
 
 In another place the Savior uses these 
 words : " Of judgment, because the prince 
 of this world is judged." In this place 
 the reference is to the work of the Spirit 
 in reproving or convincing the world, 
 and indicates the success of the work 
 of the Spirit because of the successful 
 judgment of "the prince of this world." 
 In still another place he said: " Here- 
 after I will not talk much with you: 
 for the prince of this world cometh, 
 and hath nothing in me." In this 
 place, when Christ referred to himself, 
 he did not hesitate to use the personal 
 pronouns U I" and "me;" and it is 
 next to impossible to suppose that he 
 would thus speak of himself, and then 
 confuse his hearers by saying of himself, 
 "The prince of this world cometh, and 
 hath nothing in me," when he meant 
 that he himself was that "prince," and 
 therefore had all there was in him. He 
 
1 8 THE CRISIS. 
 
 could not, and did not, mean that he 
 himself was the " prince of this world." 
 His thought was upon some one differ- 
 ent from himself, and so different, and 
 so completely separate in person and 
 interest, that he could have nothing in 
 common with himself; some one who 
 was not interested in his mission or 
 work, but was antagonized by it, and 
 condemned through the ministry of the 
 truth and the work of the Spirit, and 
 could have neither lot nor part in his 
 redemption: u He hath nothing in me." 
 Therefore, any exposition that identifies 
 "the prince of this world" with Jesus 
 Christ is to be rejected. 
 
 Another interpretation requires quite 
 as serious consideration, and perhaps 
 more so, for the reason that it involves 
 a very important doctrinal question. It 
 is held as valid only by those who deny 
 the future judgment, and assert a doc- 
 
THE CRISIS, 19 
 
 trine of judgment which places the retri- 
 bution for sin, and all personal account- 
 ability, on this side of the grave, or at 
 least this side of the resurrection of the 
 dead. It is an insidious doctrine,- easily 
 clothed in Scriptural language, and liable 
 to find acceptance where its relations and 
 implications are not suspected. It does 
 not deny or antagonize the judgment, 
 nor the day of judgment, but explains 
 it so as to break its force and destroy its 
 moral power. It assumes that the day 
 of judgment is now here; that the work 
 of judgment is now going on; that men 
 are now appearing before the judgment- 
 seat. of Christ, giving account of them- 
 selves, and receiving according to their 
 deeds, and are therefore now in a state 
 of actual retribution. In other words, 
 it holds that "the day of judgment" is 
 the gospel day; that the judgment is 
 progressive, proceeding in parallel lines 
 
20 THE CRISIS. 
 
 with God's kingly rule or divine govern- 
 ment over men; and that it is particu- 
 larly manifested under the gospel econ- 
 omy, relating largely, if not wholly, to 
 the Divine dealings with men in a judi- 
 cial way during life in this world. Its 
 great point is the denial of any special 
 period of judgment at the end of the 
 gospel age, when rewards and punish- 
 ments will be distributed for eternity. 
 It thus alleges a present and progressive 
 judgment, in opposition to the doctrine 
 of a future general judgment at the last 
 day, in connection with the resurrection 
 of the dead; and in support of this no- 
 tion, the first part of this Scripture is 
 applied with great emphasis: "Now is 
 the judgment of this world. " It may be 
 said without exaggeration that this text 
 is the corner-stone of this edifice, the 
 chief support of this whole doctrine of 
 present retribution, which opposes and 
 
THE CRISIS. 21 
 
 challenges belief in a final judgment-day 
 at the end of the world. Remove this, 
 and the superstructure falls. Can it be 
 removed by fair interpretation? 
 
 A discussion of the doctrine of judg- 
 ment, present or future, is not intended 
 here; but the remark must be made that 
 if this interpretation yields a doctrine 
 clearly antagonized by the plainer teach- 
 ings of our Lord, it can not be the right 
 interpretation, and its alleged judgment 
 is not the judgment alleged in this Scrip- 
 ture. Without looking further, it is 
 enough to know that our Savior teaches 
 another doctrine of judgment in this 
 immediate connection, so that we need 
 not look beyond this chapter to find the 
 future judgment affirmed. He says: "I 
 am come a light into the world, that 
 w 7 hosoever believeth in me should not 
 abide in darkness. And if any man 
 hear my words, and believe not, I judge 
 
22 THE CRISIS. 
 
 him not: for I came not to judge the 
 world, but to save the world. He that 
 rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
 words, hath one that judgeth him: the 
 word that I have spoken, the same shall 
 judge him at the last day." This ex- 
 plicit recognition of the time of the 
 judgment "at the last day" is a com- 
 plete refutation of the hypothesis which 
 denies it, and is in full accord with all 
 the direct teachings of the Scriptures on 
 that subject. It contradicts the inter- 
 pretation of the words before us, which 
 assumes a present judgment, and forces 
 us to seek a different meaning. 
 
 TRUE INTERPRETATION. 
 
 What, then, is the meaning of this 
 Scripture ? It has been looked upon as 
 rather obscure, and yet it must have a 
 meaning, and mean something valuable, 
 if its real import can be caught ; for our 
 
THE CRISIS. 23 
 
 Lord never used idle or meaningless 
 words. As before said, its right inter- 
 pretation must be determined by the 
 word " judgment,'' and its application. 
 There was a "judgment" which was 
 near at hand ; a judgment " of this 
 world ;" and a judgment which had 
 intimate relation to the overthrow of 
 " the prince of this world." It is a spe- 
 cial judgment of world-wide results, 
 looking to the conquest of whatever 
 antagonizes the dominion of the Son of 
 man. 
 
 The word "judgment" always means 
 decision ; and this is as true in the 
 Greek as in the English. There is no 
 judgment where there is no decision. 
 In any court of justice, civil or crim- 
 inal, a judgment rendered is a decis- 
 ion declared. If the word be used, as 
 it often is, with reference to an exercise 
 of the intellect, a mere mental process, 
 
24 THE CRISIS. 
 
 a judgment formed is simply a decision 
 arrived at in the mind, with regard to 
 some question or problem pending. In 
 fact, one can not conceive of the proper 
 use of the word judgment where there 
 is not a decision made or to be made. 
 In the great day, when the question of 
 human destiny shall be decided for weal 
 or woe to every accountable being, that 
 will be the final " judgment." In har- 
 mony with this thought, the day of judg- 
 ment is called the day of decision — " the 
 great decisive day." 
 
 Now, in the process of forming a judg- 
 ment, whether it be a mere intellection, 
 or the determination of the mind to a 
 conclusion, or a decision formulated for 
 expression or for legal declaration, there 
 is a point where the mind turns towards 
 a conclusion ; w T here it sways from equi- 
 poise to the side of the prevailing reason 
 or choice ; . where the preponderance of 
 
THE CRISIS. 25 
 
 motive or argument becomes effective ; 
 and that point is the turning-point in 
 the case and decision. It carries with 
 it the whole power of the mind, and de- 
 termines the outcome of the intellectual 
 effort in weighing the merits of the case. 
 It is the act formative of the judgment. 
 The mind then turns to its conclusion, 
 and rests in its judgment. 
 
 There are many turning-points in life. 
 Each one is a decision. It determines 
 something for us. These turning-points 
 meet us at almost every step ; they come 
 unsought and unbidden, and they con- 
 front us with imperative demands. We 
 must face them and accept the issue, 
 whether we will or not. Some of them 
 are more serious than others, because 
 they touch more delicate phases of life, 
 and carry into the future more that is 
 vital to our well-being ; but we are un- 
 able to see them or estimate their im- 
 
26 THE CRISIS. 
 
 portance. In not a few instances the 
 turning-point comes and goes without 
 attracting the slightest attention at the 
 time, and yet it is decisive of one's whole 
 future. Perhaps it is a very little thing 
 in itself, a mere incident, but its results 
 will be felt through all the paths of life. 
 It may be an ordinary business transac- 
 tion, an introduction to a stranger, a 
 passing social event, something that 
 comes and goes as a matter of course, 
 producing a momentary entertainment 
 of pleasure or pain ; or it may be an 
 accident, a seeming blunder, or some- 
 thing neither sought nor desired ; and 
 yet, in after life, in its combinations with 
 other things, it may be seen to have 
 affected one's whole life. It may have 
 been the most potent factor in deciding 
 his business, or his place of abode, or 
 his family connections, or the success or 
 failure of some enterprise that had to do 
 
THE CRISIS. 27 
 
 with his entire career. It was a turning- 
 point, a decisive event. 
 
 These turning-points occur, not only 
 in individual life, but in the life of fam- 
 ilies, of societies, of Churches, and of 
 nations. They come when least ex- 
 pected, and are passed and their work 
 done without observation ; yet their influ- 
 ence is none the less powerful because 
 unknown. There is a word which ex- 
 presses to us the exact idea of a turning- 
 point, and we often use it without a 
 thought of its full meaning. It is the 
 word crisis. In political life its use is 
 quite familiar. There is always a crisis 
 at hand when an election is pending. 
 The turning-point is the election itself. 
 That is the decisive event. A crisis 
 always points to a pivotal event in one's 
 life or history, or in the history of the 
 family, Church, or nation. In every 
 great enterprise there is a turning-point 
 
28 THE CRISIS. 
 
 or crisis, when success or failure will be 
 determined. There is a crisis in every 
 battle. In every political campaign there 
 is a crisis, sometimes more than one. 
 The politician has keen eyes to discern 
 the approach of the crisis. He sees just 
 before him the turning-point which is 
 to decide the country's fate for weal or 
 woe — a crisis. 
 
 This word crisis answers exactly to 
 the word "judgment" in this Scripture. 
 It is a turning-point, or a decisive event, 
 that is expressed or meant by the word 
 judgment. It is the word used by the 
 Lord in this place, so that no violence 
 would be done the passage by reading 
 it, " Now is the crisis of this world ; now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast 
 out." The Son of man saw a turning- 
 point in this world's affairs just at hand ; 
 something was about to occur that would 
 be decisive, that would touch the in- 
 
THE CRISIS. 29 
 
 terests of humanity for the future, that 
 would decide the fate of the dominion 
 of " the prince of this world," not for 
 time alone, but for eternity as well — a 
 crisis ! 
 
 What could it be ? It is not enough 
 to speak here of an ordinary crisis; of 
 a political occurrence of such signifi- 
 cance as to determine the dynasty or 
 the ruling power of the earth ; for while 
 such an event would be a crisis in the 
 civil affairs of the nations, it would not 
 reach the profound significance of these 
 pregnant words, " the crisis of this 
 world. " Conjecture here will not do. 
 We must know the decisive event. 
 Happily there is no need of conjecture. 
 The connection gives us the unmis- 
 takable identification of the event. 
 
 Jesus had just attended a feast in 
 Bethany, where Mary anointed his feet 
 and wiped them with the hairs of her 
 
30 THE CRISIS. 
 
 head. Judas was there, and complained 
 of the waste of expensive ointment. 
 Then Jesus spoke of his burial. The 
 next day was his triumphant entry 
 into Jerusalem. It was the time of the 
 Jewish passover, a great festival, with 
 a great gathering of people. Among 
 them were certain Greeks who came up 
 to worship at the feast. They were 
 anxious to see Jesus, whose fame had 
 spread far and wide. They approached 
 Philip, and said to him : " Sir, we would 
 see Jesus. " Philip told Andrew, and 
 these two together told Jesus. In reply, 
 Jesus made a brief address in their pres- 
 ence, and in the presence of the gath- 
 ered assembly, which for comprehensive- 
 ness and profound thought was never 
 excelled in human speech, not even in 
 his own discourses. He said : 
 
 " The hour is come, that the Son of 
 man should be glorified. Verily, verily, 
 
THE CRISIS. 31 
 
 I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat 
 fall into the ground .and die, it abideth 
 alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth 
 much fruit. He that loveth his life 
 shall lose it ; and he that hateth his 
 life in this world shall keep it unto life 
 eternal. If any man serve me, let him 
 follow me ; and where I am, there shall 
 also my servant be : if any man serve 
 me, him shall my Father honor. Now 
 is my soul troubled ; and what shall I 
 say ? Father, save me from this hour : 
 but for this cause came I unto this hour. 
 Father, glorify thy name." 
 
 As the people listened with awe and 
 wonder, a strange sound was heard. It 
 was not intelligible to the multitude, as 
 the voice of God never is till the heart 
 is opened by the Spirit of grace. "Then 
 came there a voice from heaven, saying, 
 I have both glorified it, and will glorify 
 it again. The people therefore that 
 
32 THE CRISIS. 
 
 stood by and heard, said that it thun- 
 dered. Others said an angel spake to 
 him. Jesus said, This voice came not 
 because of me, but for your sakes. Now 
 is the judgment of this world ; now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast 
 out. And I, if I be lifted up from the 
 earth, will draw all men unto me." The 
 evangelist adds : " This he said, signify- 
 ing what death he should die." There 
 is no possibility of a mistake as to the 
 event in his mind. The great event, 
 which was the turning-point in human 
 history and in the history of Divine 
 government over men, was the death of 
 Jesus Christ. For this purpose and for 
 this hour he came. His birth and life 
 were preparatory ; his death was the 
 climax. It was the culmination of his 
 mission. In that event centered all hu- 
 man interest and human hope. It was 
 the turning-point of destiny, the crisis 
 
THE CRISIS. 33 
 
 of this world, the decisive hour for ruler- 
 ship in the spiritual realm. 
 
 This is the thought of this Scripture. 
 How shall we estimate the magnitude 
 of this crisis? From the beginning 
 prophecy turned upon it. Inspired men, 
 impelled by the Spirit of the Lord within 
 them, wrote of it and wondered. Angels 
 stooped from their high abode and bent 
 their energies to grasp its meaning. 
 They looked into it as we look into 
 infinity. We see it as we see the ocean ; 
 as we see the immensity of space ; as 
 we see the stars in their eternal march. 
 We get a glimpse of what transcends 
 our powers, and humbly pause before 
 the unmeasured depth of the fathomless 
 abyss. 
 
 THE PRINCE. 
 
 The words that suggest the view now 
 to be taken of this crisis are in this 
 
 verse : " Now shall the prince of this 
 3 
 
34 THE CRISIS. 
 
 world be cast out." This is an ultimate 
 result. But who is " the prince of this 
 world?" Why is he the prince of this 
 world, and not of some other world? 
 What the nature and boundary of his 
 domain? Why cast him out? What is 
 meant by casting him out? By what 
 agency shall it be done ? and what the 
 result? Here is a field too large for full 
 survey; but to some of these questions 
 brief answers must be given. 
 
 With regard to the first question, some 
 preparation for an answer has been made, 
 but only negatively. It has been shown 
 that " the prince of this world " was not 
 the Christ himself. Jesus said of him 
 very plainly: " He hath nothing in me." 
 When Christ should be enthroned, this 
 other prince should be cast out. They 
 are antagonists. The only "prince" to 
 be " cast out" by the death of Christ is 
 the grand usurper of dominion in this 
 
THE CRISIS. 35 
 
 world, God's chief adversary, the enemy 
 whose works the Son of God came to 
 destroy, the devil. He is a prince ; the 
 " prince of the devils ;" the " prince ol 
 darkness;" " the prince of the power ot 
 the air, the spirit that worketh in the 
 children of disobedience." He is " the 
 god of this world, that hath blinded the 
 minds of them that believe not." He is 
 " the prince of this world." 
 
 We are thus brought face to face with 
 the doctrine, not of devils, but the doc- 
 trine of the Holy Scriptures concerning 
 the devils. What of all the doctrines 
 has larger place in the discourses and 
 parables of the Lord than this same doc- 
 trine concerning the devils? Nor is 
 there any theme that mingles more 
 freely with the writings of the apostles 
 than the activity, vigilance, and ceaseless 
 persistence of the devils, in corrupting 
 human souls and seducing them from 
 
36 THE CRISIS. 
 
 the truth. The miracle-working power 
 of Christ was displayed in " casting out 
 4evils," perhaps more than in any other 
 direction. Yet in our times, how seldom 
 this subject enters the pulpit ! How 
 unwelcome the theme ! One verily 
 needs to apologize for preaching as did 
 the Lord and his apostles. 
 
 Skepticism begins at this point. It 
 becomes fashionable to speak lightly of 
 devils and of Satanic influences. People 
 doubt the existence of devils ; treat them 
 as myths and hobgoblins, and scowl 
 them out of being, without serious 
 thought. After a while they awake to 
 the fact that the reasoning which dis- 
 cards devils, leads to the denial of angels 
 and all spiritual existences, and finally to 
 the denial of God. Most men deny the 
 existence of the devil first, and then 
 float on the waves of doubt till gross 
 materialism sweeps tbem into the abyss 
 
THE CRISIS. 37 
 
 of dismal agnosticism. When the devil 
 and his kingdom are turned into a figure 
 of speech, the descent into the darkness 
 of atheism is easy. 
 
 From the pew also comes the excla- 
 mation, " What ! does the minister be- 
 lieve in a personal devil? I thought 
 the Church had discarded that belief. " 
 Perhaps some Churches have. Many 
 Church members appear to have done 
 so, and not a few preachers. Modern 
 glossings of the Scriptures have mysti- 
 fied the people till the sophistries of 
 unbelief have robbed them of the sim- 
 plicity of faith. Imperfect conceptions 
 of personality have done much to help 
 on the progress of this subtle unbelief. 
 It is so easy to confound personality 
 with some form of bodily presence, and 
 so hard to conceive of it as purely spir- 
 itual without body or parts. Verily 
 there is need to look soberly at these 
 
38 THE CRISIS. 
 
 things, as insidious poison so readily 
 distills in the heart, and error abounds 
 on every side, creeping into the Churches 
 and pulpits of the land, with blinding 
 and perverting power. 
 
 PERSONIFYING EVIL. 
 Let us look into this subject courage- 
 ously. It is neither ethical nor scien- 
 tific. 'Philosophy tells little about it. 
 Yet the facts of human life are sunken 
 into deeper mystery without than with 
 the plain truths of revelation with regard 
 to the existence of devils ; and no truth 
 in science or philosophy antagonizes our 
 most literal interpretations of Scripture. 
 A figure of speech ! What a convenient 
 thing it is to resolve every unpalatable 
 truth into a rhetorical trope ! With 
 those who still respect the Scriptures, 
 and yet deny the reality of devils, the 
 popular assumption is that all Scriptural 
 recognitions of the evil one are to be 
 
THE CRISIS. 39 
 
 interpreted figuratively; that the prin- 
 ciple of evil is personified and made 
 the chief devil, " the prince of the 
 devils ;" and that the evil passions of 
 men are metaphorically called devils. 
 This might be labeled, " Important if 
 true." It reduces the mission of the 
 Son of God wonderfully. To destroy 
 the works of such a devil was exceed- 
 ingly expensive at the cost of such a 
 price as the incarnation and death of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 So great has been the influence of this 
 notion of the personification of evil that 
 it must be tested. It comes to us as a 
 generalization, with little definiteness, 
 and with sweeping pretentiousness, but 
 unwilling and unable to endure subjec- 
 tion to analysis, or rigid application to 
 particular Scriptures. It fails to meet 
 the requirements of either the facts or 
 the language of the Bible. These dis- 
 
40 THE CRISIS. 
 
 tinguish devils from men, and ascribe to 
 them personal agency, qualities, powers, 
 and activities, too distinctly and persist- 
 ently to be transformed into personifi- 
 cations. Even figurative language is 
 amenable to law. It is not necessarily 
 vague because figurative. Any interpre- 
 tation of it that will not stand appropri- 
 ate tests must be condemned. 
 
 What is this principle of evil? Is it 
 a chimera? Is it a nothing, or is it an 
 entity? Where does it reside? What 
 does it do ? Is it not itself a devil ? Is 
 it any better than a devil? Is it less 
 harmful, or its existence more easily ac- 
 counted for? We must inquire into this 
 thing, and pursue it as personificationists 
 never think of doing. The concession 
 that there is an evil principle is some- 
 thing. Whether it be physical or moral, 
 it must have a nature and a residence, 
 and some relation to human life and to 
 
THE CRISIS, 41 
 
 the Divine government. If it exists and 
 does the work of the devil, it should be 
 so credited, and treated with the respect 
 due to the devil. 
 
 Evil is a quality. It is the quality of 
 something, and has no existence apart 
 from its substance, whether its sub- 
 stance be matter, mind, or spirit. There 
 is, then, no abstract principle of evil to 
 be personified. The imagination is a 
 powerful factor in human intellection ; 
 but the imagination, be it ever so brill- 
 iant, can not conceive of an abstract 
 principle of evil actually existing out- 
 side of its substance, so as to admit of 
 rational or logical personification. One 
 can conceive of evil so as to abstract it 
 in the mind ; but to conceive of it as a 
 principle existing in an abstract form, 
 and working as an impersonal agent, is 
 quite another thing, and impossible. 
 There is, therefore, no abstract evil ; no 
 
42 THE CRISIS. 
 
 evil that does not exist as a quality 
 inhering in some substance, agent, thing, 
 or person. Keep this in mind. Evil is 
 not a substance, but a quality; and it is 
 a quality of something that has being ; 
 and that substance which has being 
 is evil because of this quality which 
 inheres within it. The substance or 
 being takes its character from its qual- 
 ities. This is true both in physics and 
 in morals. Let us illustrate : Here is a 
 piece of wood. You touch it and learn 
 its qualities. At once you find two 
 which are distinct, but never separated. 
 They are hardness and smoothness. 
 Both are real, and by mental effort you 
 can abstract them, and think of each 
 apart from the other; but they never so 
 exist. The abstraction is purely mental. 
 There is no hardness in the abstract, 
 and no smoothness. There must be 
 something that is hard, and something 
 
THE CRISIS. 43 
 
 that is smooth, or these qualities can 
 never exist. You can not imagine ab- 
 stract life. It never so exists. There 
 must be some living thing, or life has 
 no place, no being. So it is with all 
 spiritual things and qualities. There 
 are moral qualities. These are predi- 
 cated of spiritual entities. It is difficult 
 to conceive of them otherwise than as 
 so related. Certainly they never exist 
 in the abstract, or apart from the sub- 
 stance or entity to which they belong. 
 They inhere in something, and give 
 character to something that is capable 
 of moral character. There is no moral 
 evil where there is no moral being capa- 
 ble of moral qualities. Moral qualities 
 or principles do not float in the air, or 
 reside in the sunshine or in the storm ; 
 they do not cleave to beasts or birds ; 
 they do not spring from the grass or the 
 flowers. It is only in moral beings that 
 
44 THE CRISIS. 
 
 moral qualities are found. They are 
 found in men, because men are capable 
 of moral action, and of moral character ; 
 and they are attributed to angels for 
 the same reason. Goodness is a moral 
 quality ; but there is no moral goodness 
 outside of some moral being that is 
 good. It may be in men or angels, for 
 these are capable of moral character, 
 and may be good. Badness is a moral 
 quality; but badness does not exist out- 
 side of its substance ; and moral badness 
 has no existence outside of moral beings 
 that are bad. These may be men or 
 angels, for both men and angels are 
 capable of moral character. All the 
 moral evil in the universe resides in 
 moral beings. Let this be understood, 
 and the question of the existence of 
 devils is simplified. It is narrowed down 
 to the question of the existence of moral 
 evil outside of human beings. If it 
 
THE CRISIS. 45 
 
 exists outside of human beings, it must 
 be inside of some other beings ; and 
 these other beings, having intrinsic na- 
 tures of the angelic grade, and being 
 perverted by the qualities of evil they 
 possess, are essentially corrupted angels, 
 and therefore devils. Let the thought 
 be reiterated : There is no moral evil 
 where there is no moral nature. Men 
 have moral natures, and moral evil 
 dwells in men ; and if there are no other 
 beings possessing moral natures, then 
 moral evil can not exist outside of men. 
 It can not assail men from without ; it 
 can not lie in their pathway to entrap 
 them ; it can not approach them with 
 evil solicitations ; it can not seduce 
 them into evil ways. Evil extrinsic to 
 man in that event is powerless, for it 
 has no being ; and to all temptation 
 from without, man's nature is imper- 
 vious. 
 
46 THE CRISIS. 
 
 The Scriptures abound with warnings 
 to men against the forces of moral evil 
 that assail them from without, seeking 
 to seduce and overcome them. Are 
 these warnings from God? Is there 
 truth in them? If not, then they are 
 deceptive and misleading. They are 
 doing the work of the devil; for he is a 
 deceiver. This is his prime character- 
 istic. But what deception can a non- 
 entity impose? How can an abstraction 
 mislead? In what way can a personifi- 
 cation seduce? Who stands in awe of a 
 metaphor? Either there are evil beings 
 haunting the footsteps of men, pursuing 
 them, tempting them, and sometimes 
 leading them captive at will, or else 
 needless warnings follow them, arousing 
 needless fears of non-existent evils and 
 impossible dangers. 
 
 The Scriptures teach two things con- 
 cerning devils: First, that they exist; 
 
THE CRISIS. 47 
 
 and, second, that they tempt men and 
 seek their ruin. Just here, as we enter 
 the study of the Sacred Writings, with 
 the view to find out their revelations 
 concerning the devils, we are met with 
 wonderings as to why fuller information 
 has not been vouchsafed on a subject of 
 such stupendous import. The same 
 wonderment might arise with reference 
 to many other things; but it is not for 
 us to know the reasons for the limita- 
 tions of knowledge within which we are 
 confined. Our business is to keep within 
 our limitations, and make the best of 
 what we possess. The purpose of Di- 
 vine inspiration is to reveal God, not the 
 devils ; and the disclosures made to us of 
 these invisible powers are incidental, and 
 only incidental, to the main purpose of 
 the Bible. It is not strange, therefore, 
 that our information is incomplete. 
 Whatever is told us of the angels that 
 
48 THE CRISIS. 
 
 sinned is for our warning, and not for 
 the gratification of our curiosity. Of 
 course, we often wish we could know 
 more of the dark and mysterious things 
 of the invisible world. It would gratify 
 us to have the veil drawn aside, if but 
 for a moment, or, with the young man 
 with the prophet at Dothan, to have our 
 eyes opened for a single gaze into the 
 realm of the spiritual; but we must 
 wait. Only slight glimpses are ours; 
 and yet what wonderful things flash 
 forth from out of the thick darkness, as 
 lightnings in the storm, when God 
 speaks of things unseen! The rift in 
 the cloud shows measureless worlds be- 
 yond us. 
 
 SOME ERRORS. 
 Let us first correct some prevalent 
 errors. These come largely from po- 
 etry. As Homer sang of the gods, so 
 Milton and Dante and Pollok, and 
 
THE CRISIS. 49 
 
 others, have sung of angels and devils. 
 Poetic genius revels in the mysterious, 
 and luxuriant fancy paints heroes and 
 warriors, and victors and vanquished, 
 with limitless rounds of conflict and 
 peril and triumph, till thrones and do- 
 minions and powers move onward to 
 final destiny at will. The pictures are 
 brilliant, and affect the imagination ; but 
 they are only pictures. We must come 
 down to facts. These are not numerous, 
 but they are telling. 
 
 The first erroneous impression to be 
 corrected has reference to the original 
 abode of the angels that sinned. In 
 popular thought these angels were once 
 inhabitants of the heaven to which we 
 aspire — the home of the good. A very 
 thoughtful man of the legal profession 
 once came to me with this line of 
 thought: "If sin once entered heaven, 
 why may it not enter there again? If 
 
50 THE CRISIS. 
 
 angels in heaven once committed sin 
 and were cast out, why may not others, 
 and why may not the saints from earth 
 rebel and fall? Why do you describe 
 heaven as a holy place, and all its 
 inhabitants as unalterably established 
 in holiness, if some rebelled and lost its 
 blessedness ?" This man did not wish 
 to be skeptical, but the popular view 
 had brought serious difficulties into his 
 mind. The looser faith, or non-faith, of 
 Liberalism brought no relief, unless at 
 the cost of some vital truth or Scrip- 
 tural principle touching the divinity of 
 Christ and atonement for sin, besides 
 failing to explain the trend of the Scrip- 
 tures with regard to the immanence of 
 angels and spirits. Suggestions were 
 made that relieved him, opening to the 
 eye of faith a new vista, as he looked 
 again into the broader sphere of the in- 
 visible. How marvelously the Bible en- 
 
THE CRISIS. 51 
 
 larges vision and thought as we ap- 
 proach accuracy of interpretation! 
 
 Probation is the key to the profound- 
 est mysteries. Now and then, persons 
 are troubled with the thought that men 
 on earth should be on trial, with destiny- 
 making power in their hands, while 
 superior intelligences were created in 
 heaven, with none of the perils of pro- 
 bation to pass. Why should frail mor- 
 tals be the exception? Is not the risk 
 too great? Is not the responsibility dis- 
 proportioned to our powers? Why 
 should eternal consequences result from 
 human action? Where else do we find 
 such infinite effects from finite causes? 
 
 Some of these are hard questions. 
 God has not yet given account of him- 
 self for some of his proceedings. We 
 can not penetrate the motives of his 
 rule, nor comprehend the reasons of all 
 his appointments. General principles 
 
52 THE CRISIS. 
 
 must guide where the fiery pillar of Rev- 
 elation withholds* its light from the path- 
 way of our feet as we walk in this wilder- 
 ness. Let us look steadily, and the stars 
 in the firmament of Revelation will send 
 glimmerings athwart the darkness, per- 
 haps enough to lead us safely till the 
 day dawns. 
 
 It appears to be not the exception, 
 but the order of the universe, that ra- 
 tional, accountable beings, of all ranks 
 and grades, should have a probational 
 existence before confirmation in holiness. 
 Were not "the angels that sinned " on 
 probation? How else could they fall? 
 What means the assertion that they 
 "kept not their first estate ?" It must 
 be that, somewhere, they had an "es- 
 tate" to keep, a law of life to obey, with 
 confirmation in holiness conditioned on 
 fidelity. What else can the Scriptures 
 mean? It matters not that we have not 
 
THE CRISIS. 53 
 
 been told where it was, nor what it was, 
 nor how long they stood, nor why they 
 fell; the essential thing is, that in " their 
 • first estate," within the " bounds of their 
 own habitation," they were on trial, with 
 a conditional blessedness before them, 
 able to stand and free to fall. Their 
 first estate was a probation. We know 
 not its terms or tests, nor can we know 
 its locality in the vast universe. Some- 
 where, within the dominion of the Al- 
 mighty, they had their being, and their 
 calling and privileges, and their duties 
 and responsibilities; and, since inflexible 
 justice is the rule of God's government, 
 we must believe that their trial was a 
 fair one. In their condition a fall was 
 possible, but only possible by a willful 
 abuse of power. 
 
 L,et this thought be followed. If " the 
 angels that sinned" were on- probation, 
 so also were those that did not sin. 
 
54 THE CRISIS. 
 
 May we not conclude that all angels 
 were on trial in their " first estate ?" If 
 not, why not? Must it be assumed that 
 all fell who were on probation, or who 
 could fall? To our thought, human 
 probation is not an exception, but the 
 rule in the moral universe, a dim shad- 
 owing of angelic probation, the only 
 condition suited to the free development 
 of moral character under the universal 
 government by rewards and punish- 
 ments. Let it be understood, then, that 
 somewhere in the domain of the King 
 Eternal, and at some period in the limit- 
 less past, the angels of God were on pro- 
 bation; that, whatever the terms, some 
 stood the test imposed, and were con- 
 firmed in holiness, and were exalted 
 to the heaven of heavens, where apos- 
 tasy is forever impossible ; and that some 
 failed to stand, and u left their own habi- 
 tation, " fell into open rebellion, and 
 
THE CRISIS, 55 
 
 were cast down into Tartarus, the prison 
 of darkness, to await the final judgment. 
 These are the fallen angels, the devils. 
 Their chief is Beelzebub, "the prince of 
 the devils," "the prince of darkness," 
 "the prince of this world." 
 
 The Scriptures speak of "war in 
 heaven," when Satan and his hosts were 
 cast out. That word "heaven" is a 
 great word. In its wider use it means 
 all the vast universe where sin does not 
 abide. In the symbolical book of Reve- 
 lation the apostasy of angels is described 
 as war in heaven; but this does not an- 
 tagonize the conception here given. In 
 the end it will confirm it. But for the 
 present it is enough to aver that there is 
 no Scripture that teaches the popular 
 thought which locates the sin of angels 
 in the heaven of unchangeable bless- 
 edness. 
 
 The next error to be corrected is the 
 
56 THE CRISIS. 
 
 common assumption that the devils are 
 already in their final abode, in the doom 
 symbolized by the "lake of fire." This 
 popular assumption does not accord with 
 the Scriptures. On this point the testi- 
 mony is more explicit than on the other. 
 They are in Tartarus, the prison-house 
 of darkness; but they are not in Ge- 
 henna. We speak of them as the in- 
 habitants of hell, without defining the 
 thought expressed or studying the exact 
 meaning of the words. As yet they are 
 this side the final judgment, this side of 
 Gehenna, this side the "lake of fire," 
 this side of their final doom. They are 
 under " chains of darkness," but they are 
 not physically bound. They are in the 
 state which to us is invisible; but they 
 have access to earth, and mingle w 7 ith 
 the affairs of mortals, in some way af- 
 fecting our probation, disturbing our 
 peace, and seeking our ruin. They in- 
 
THE CRISIS. 57 
 
 cite men to evil ways, stir up their baser 
 passions, instigate cruelty and crime, 
 blind the understanding, deceive the 
 thoughtless, and take captive the un- 
 wary. This they do during our proba- 
 tion; but when the judgment sits, and 
 their final sentence falls upon them, they 
 will pass into Gehenna, the final perdi- 
 tion, and then their career of tempta- 
 tion and war against the Church ends 
 forever. 
 
 According to the testimony of Peter, 
 "God spared not the angels that sinned, 
 but cast them down to Tartarus, and 
 delivered them into chains of darkness, 
 to be reserved unto judgment." They 
 are cast into prison, and held in custody, 
 awaiting the judgment that will consign 
 them to their endless doom. The lan- 
 guage of Jude is much like this, but 
 slightly more specific. It is: "And the 
 angels which kept not their first estate, 
 
58 THE CRISIS. 
 
 but left their own habitation, he hath 
 reserved in everlasting chains under 
 darkness unto the judgment of the great 
 day." This word " reserved, " in both 
 these passages, has a meaning. It is 
 used of the ungodly of the human race 
 who have died, and are awaiting the 
 judgment: "The Lord knoweth how to 
 deliver the godly out of temptations, and 
 to reserve the unjust unto the day of 
 judgment to be punished." To "re- 
 serve" is to hold fast, to keep in custody. 
 Prisoners under arrest, placed in prison 
 for safe-keeping till court shall sit, are 
 kept in custody, "reserved" unto the 
 judgment of the court. So the angels 
 that sinned are in prison, "reserved unto 
 the judgment of the great day," not to 
 be released, but "to be punished" — pun- 
 ished by being cast into "everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his an- 
 gels." In the Apocalyptic vision of 
 
THE CRISIS. 59 
 
 u the judgment of the great day," after 
 Satan had been in the " bottomless pit," 
 and after he had been " loosed for a little 
 season," deceiving the nations which are 
 in the four quarters of the earth, it is 
 written: "And the devil that deceived 
 them was cast into the lake of fire and 
 brimstone, where the beast and false 
 prophet are, and shall be tormented day 
 and night for ever and ever." This final 
 doom comes after "the judgment of the 
 great day," and after the whole period 
 of temptation and warfare against the 
 Church, and after the imprisonment in 
 Tartarus under chains of darkness. It 
 is therefore after the close of the reign 
 of sin on the earth, and after the end of 
 the gospel dispensation. "And death 
 and hell were cast into the lake of fire. 
 This is the second death." 
 
 From all this it appears unmistakable 
 that the devil and his angels have not 
 
60 THE CRISIS. 
 
 yet reached their final doom. They are 
 beyond their time of probation, impris- 
 oned in the world of darkness, awaiting 
 the coming of the great day, when their 
 final punishment is sure. In the mean- 
 time their imprisonment does not de- 
 stroy their activity. Their chains of 
 darkness do not impede their locomotion 
 within their limits. Having passed their 
 own probation, and fallen, they become 
 an element in ours. They find access 
 to mortals on this mundane sphere, and 
 here on earth they war against the Lord 
 and against his Anointed. Here is the 
 citadel of their power, and here, as no- 
 where else in the universe, their flag of 
 rebellion waves defiance to the army of 
 God. The " prince of darkness'' is now 
 "the prince of this world." He is u the 
 prince of the power of the air." 
 
THE CRISIS. 6 1 
 
 IMMANENCE OF THE INVISIBLE. 
 
 There are some things here which are 
 "hard to be understood." The fact that 
 the fallen angels are imprisoned "under 
 chains of darkness," dwelling in Tar- 
 tarus, and are yet in this world tempt- 
 ing and seeking to govern the children 
 of men, is a mystery. We own it such, 
 and yet we know that much of the 
 mystery grows out of our habits of 
 thought, and our unarranged impres- 
 sions with regard to the invisible world. 
 It is so hard for us to conquer the feel- 
 ing that the world of darkness is neces- 
 sarily very far off. Although invisible, 
 it is not far away physically. It is a 
 spiritual world, and very near to us. Its 
 lines touch the world we live in, and its 
 borders overlap the scenes of our daily 
 lives, pressing hard upon our pathway 
 when we least suspect the presence of 
 
62 THE CRISIS. 
 
 the unseen. If our eyes could be opened, 
 we might behold troops of angels, good 
 and bad, covering the mountains and 
 valleys about us, as the horsemen and 
 chariots of God surrounded Elisha on 
 the mountain at Dothan, when the 
 Lord opened the young man's eyes in 
 the presence of the prophet. There are 
 more things in heaven and earth than 
 human philosophy has ever dreamed of. 
 As the earth floats enwrapped in its own 
 atmosphere, so is it surrounded by the 
 unseen forces of the spiritual world. 
 The relation of the visible and the in- 
 visible is more intimate than our ma- 
 terial senses can discern or verify. We 
 can not apprehend the spiritual phe- 
 nomena with which Revelation is bur- 
 dened till we catch the thought that 
 only the veil of flesh and blood shuts us 
 in from the world of spiritual realities — 
 a world too subtle for our dull senses to 
 
THE CRISIS. 63 
 
 detect, and too vast for our present 
 powers to comprehend. 
 
 This immanence of the invisible 
 explains much, while it expands our 
 thoughts, giving us a wider horizon 
 than is otherwise possible ; but still our 
 vision is circumscribed, and we are un- 
 able to pass the limitations of our being. 
 We stand in awe in the presence of the 
 deeper mysteries which encompass us, 
 knowing that just beyond lies the realm 
 of the unsearchable. We should not, 
 therefore, stagger at the thought con- 
 fronting us, that the angels which " left 
 their own habitation, " wherever that 
 was, and lost the hope of the higher 
 heaven, found their way to this newly- 
 endowed earth, and here planted the 
 throne of the kingdom of darkness. 
 Here, under the leadership of "the 
 prince of darkness," they found the hu- 
 man pair in the garden of innocence, 
 
64 THE CRISIS. 
 
 laid siege to their hearts through their 
 senses, and seduced them from their 
 allegiance to God. Thus, gaining as- 
 cendency in human hearts, they began 
 the contest for the dominion of this 
 world. Here Satan established his seat. 
 Here gathered all the forces of evil. 
 Here assembled "the rulers of the dark- 
 ness of this world,'' "the wicked spirits 
 on high 1" In the light of this truth 
 the reason dawns upon us why it is that 
 " the prince of the devils," " the prince 
 of darkness," is also "the prince of this 
 world," and must be cast out as the 
 kingdom of God is established and grows 
 upon the earth. 
 
 In further considering this thought, 
 the Scriptures alone can guide us to an 
 adequate recognition of the presence 
 and dominion of the devils in this world, 
 and their connection with the affairs of 
 men. The question is one of fact, and 
 
THE CRISIS. 65 
 
 since the fact depends not on any philos- 
 ophy we can comprehend, progress can 
 not be made in its study except in fol- 
 lowing the light of the Sacred Word, 
 accepting its testimouy, and walking 
 steadily whithersoever it leads. In its 
 relation to goodness, sin is discordant 
 and destructive ; but within its domain 
 it appears to be a bond of union. Its 
 virus penetrates the natures of all classes 
 whom it touches. Men and devils are 
 made akin through its blight. " Who- 
 soever committeth sin is of the devil." 
 It is therefore more than a figure of 
 speech when wicked men are called u the 
 children of the devil." As sin is of the 
 devil, wherever sin reigns, there is the 
 kingdom of the wicked one, and there 
 his dominion. 
 
 SATAN AND JOB. 
 
 The thought that Satan has much to 
 do with men in this world pervades the 
 5 
 
66 THE CRISIS. 
 
 Scriptures. It is possible that the book 
 of Job is the oldest book in the world. 
 Whatever of revision or adaptation of its 
 language may have occurred at a later 
 date, its conception of God and of the 
 social and religious life of the people an- 
 tedates Moses. Its life is pre-eminently 
 patriarchal and pastoral, and its pictures 
 of worship such as prevailed before idol- 
 atrous corruptions were w T idely diffused. 
 Whatever view one takes of the imagery 
 of this book, it must be understood that 
 its representation of Satan's presence 
 and power accords with the belief of the 
 times, and stands forth approved of God. 
 He appears here not as a myth, nor as a 
 personification, but as a veritable agent, 
 acting a part in keeping with the char- 
 acter he bears as the enemy of God and 
 men. " When the sons of God came to 
 present themselves before the Lord, 
 Satan came also among them." If in 
 
THE CRISIS. 67 
 
 this representation there is somewhat of 
 dramatic dressing, it harmonizes well 
 with Oriental thought, and expresses 
 the real character and habit of Satan. 
 Recognizing his presence, the Lord said 
 unto him: "Whence comest thou?" 
 The answer comes as from one conscious 
 of the folly of evasion in the presence of 
 his interrogator : " Then Satan answered 
 the Lord and said, From going to and 
 fro in the earth, and from walking up 
 and down in it." The Lord makes no 
 dissent, and no hint is found that this 
 was a false answer ; nor is there any 
 suggestion in the answer, or out of it, 
 that Satan's real dwelling-place was in 
 some far-off world, or that his visits to 
 this world were occasional, extraordinary, 
 or by special permission. The fact that 
 God gave him special permission to 
 touch Job's prosperity is suggestive of 
 limitations of his power with reference to 
 
68 THE CRISIS. 
 
 those whom God protects. His agency 
 in bringing the Sabeans and the Chal- 
 deans, and the fire and the wind, and 
 finally the sore boils, to complete the 
 calamities which befell this holy man, 
 furnishes a fruitful study with regard to 
 his ability to instigate wicked men and 
 to control the elements of physical na- 
 ture ; but our present concern is with 
 his uncontradicted assertion that his 
 dwelling-place is so intimately related 
 to this world. While nothing can be 
 affirmed on the naked word of " the 
 father of lies," yet even his declaration, 
 nnder circumstances where contradic- 
 tion would be certain, if false, may shed 
 light on questions relating to his preten- 
 sions and power. His is a life of cease- 
 less activity. He came " from going to 
 and fro in the earth, and from walking 
 up and down in it." It is not impossi- 
 ble that the apostle Peter had this state- 
 
THE CRISIS. 69 
 
 ment in mind when he said : u Your 
 adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, 
 walketh about, seeking whom he may 
 devour." At the very least, this apos- 
 tolic recognition of his whereabouts and 
 of his habit, confirms the thought ex- 
 pressed that his sphere of activity is 
 here amongst men. 
 
 CHRIST TKMPTED. 
 The record of our Lord's temptation, 
 after his baptism, is pertinent to the 
 subject in hand. How naturally the 
 presence of the devil is recognized here, 
 and throughout the Gospels ! Not the 
 least surprise is manifested that he 
 should appear at any time or in any 
 place. He comes and goes as if upon 
 his native heath! After the baptism 
 at the Jordan, " Jesus was led of the 
 Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted 
 of the devil." What was really done is 
 mentioned in the Scriptures as done of 
 
70 THE CRISIS. 
 
 design. The discipline of the Son of 
 man was not complete till the devil had 
 exhausted his power of temptation upon 
 him. We are not to explain his meth- 
 ods. In some way he came to Jesus. 
 Whether in bodily shape like a man, or 
 whether in mental action alone, retain- 
 ing invisibility, is indifferent to the 
 present issue. He came in his own 
 character as the tempter. Necessarily 
 there is mystery in his movements. 
 But he came to Jesus. The temptation 
 was from without. It was not in any 
 sense the action of the body, mind, 
 temper, passions, or imagination of the 
 Son of man himself. He was not his 
 own tempter. There was nothing in 
 his nature to fill such an office. The 
 devil was not, therefore, an evil passion 
 of human nature. Neither was he the 
 personification of an abstract principle 
 of evil. The evangelists who describe 
 
THE CRISIS, 71 
 
 this temptation were not writing poetry. 
 They recorded substantial facts for the 
 common people, as well as for the 
 learned, and the facts are incompatible 
 with any hypothesis of temptation from 
 an impersonal devil. 
 
 After forty days of fasting, the tempta- 
 tions began. Three distinct assaults are 
 described. The first was an attempt 
 to take advantage of a physical need, 
 through a natural appetite, to induce 
 an unwarranted exercise of miraculous 
 power. "And when the tempter came 
 to him, he said, If thou be the Son of 
 God, command that these stones be 
 made bread. " This suggestion, under 
 the circumstances, shows discrimination 
 and sagacity. Jesus repelled it at once 
 by the use of Scripture : " It is written, 
 Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
 by every word that proceedeth out of 
 the mouth of God." Foiled in this 
 
72 THE CRISIS. 
 
 attempt, the devil resorts to the weapon 
 by which his first assault had been de- 
 feated. He quotes Scripture. " Then 
 the devil taketh him up into the city, 
 and setteth him on a pinnacle of the 
 temple, and said unto him, If thou be 
 the Son of God, cast thyself down, for 
 it is written, He shall give his angels 
 charge concerning thee, and in their 
 hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any 
 time thou dash thy foot against a stone." 
 The promptness of the repulse appears 
 in the brevity of the record: " Jesus said 
 unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt 
 not tempt the Lord thy God." From 
 this reply it was evident to the tempter 
 that this man would do nothing rash or 
 presumptuous. His next effort was an 
 appeal to what in most men of strength 
 is their most vulnerable point, their love 
 of power and dominion : " Then the 
 devil taketh him up into an exceeding 
 
THE CRISIS. 73 
 
 high mountain, and sheweth him all the 
 kingdoms of the world, and the glory of 
 them ; and saith unto him, All these 
 things will I give thee — for that is de- 
 livered unto me, and to whomsoever I 
 will, I give it — if thou wilt fall down and 
 worship me." Then, in reply to this 
 open proposal, the climax of effrontery, 
 came from Jesus the word of authority 
 and power which ended the contest: 
 " Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written, 
 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
 and him only shalt thou serve." 
 
 One of the troubles encountered in 
 studying this mysterious conflict be- 
 tween Christ and Satan arises from an 
 almost irrepressible desire to understand 
 the mode of the processes declared. 
 One naturally asks how the devil took 
 the Savior of men into the mountain, 
 and into the city, and how he set him 
 on a pinnacle of the temple. But the 
 
74 THE CRISIS. 
 
 how of these movements is not revealed. 
 Whether they were merely transporta- 
 tions of the mind, or whether a physical 
 movement of the body from place to 
 place was meant, or whether supernat- 
 ural power removed the persons to the 
 points named, may be well left among 
 the unexplained incidents of the trans- 
 action. The great facts of the tempta- 
 tion are given without any attempt to 
 make known the mode of the facts. The 
 audacious assault was made upon the 
 integrity of the Son of man, and it was 
 promptly and effectually repelled. 
 
 Sometimes the remark has been made 
 that when Satan offered to give to Christ 
 all the kingdoms of the world and the 
 glory of thein, he was indulging a bit 
 of vain boasting, as he was promising 
 what was not his own, and what he had 
 no power to convey. This, however, is 
 not so clear. He had by usurpation 
 
THE CRISIS. 75 
 
 acquired control of " the vain pomp and 
 glory of this world," and had so far sub- 
 jected it to himself, that, in throwing off 
 his yoke, and in avowing allegiance to 
 Christ, in baptism, it is necessary to 
 renounce the devil and all his works, 
 the vain pomp and glory of this world, 
 and the carnal desires of the flesh. 
 These are all of his kingdom. Proof is 
 not wanting that he holds dominion in 
 the high places of the earth. In courts 
 of royalty his power is next to supreme. 
 If love of worldliness is opposition to 
 God, then the devil exults in the palaces 
 of kings. If tyranny is hateful to God, 
 the places of worldly power are the de- 
 light of the enemy of righteousness. If 
 the lust of lucre is inimical to holiness, 
 Satan has his seat in municipal govern- 
 ments. Alas! it is too true that " the 
 prince of the devils" is a the prince of 
 this world." His throne and kingdom 
 
76 THE CRISIS. 
 
 are here — here by usurpation, but here 
 in fact as a reigning power. 
 
 THE DEVIL IN PARABLES. 
 
 The parables of our Lord can not be 
 interpreted without the recognition of 
 the presence and power of the devil in 
 this world. Two in particular will illus- 
 trate this declaration. Read the parable 
 of the Sower and the Seed, with the 
 Lord's own exposition of it. Bear in 
 mind, also, that the exposition is not 
 parable, but plain, literal truth. It is 
 too common, when one finds in the par- 
 ables unwelcome doctrine, to say: u O, 
 well, it is only a parable, and perhaps 
 we do not get its meaning. " Nothing 
 of the kind can occur here ; for the 
 exposition of the parable removes all 
 uncertainty as to its meaning: " The 
 seed is the word of God. Those by the 
 wayside are those that hear; then 
 cometh the devil, and taketh away the 
 
THE CRISIS. 77 
 
 word out of their hearts, lest they should 
 believe and be saved." The activity 
 and vigilance of the devil is the basal 
 thought. Wherever the gospel of the 
 kingdom is preached, there is the devil 
 ready to intercept the truth, or to coun- 
 teract it by diverting attention, or filling 
 the mind with other things. Not that 
 the devil is everywhere, as if omni- 
 present ; but there are legions of them, 
 all alert and intensely earnest in oppos- 
 ing the work of God. Read, also, the 
 parable of the Tares of the Field. It is 
 a parable, but it has a meaning : " The 
 kingdom of heaven is likened unto a 
 man which sowed good seed in his field ; 
 but while men slept, his enemy came 
 and sowed tares among the wheat, and 
 went his way. But when the blade was 
 sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then 
 appeared the tares also. So the servants 
 of the householder came and said unto 
 
78 THE CRISIS. 
 
 him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed 
 in thy field? From whence then hath 
 it tares ? He said unto them, An enemy 
 hath done this. The servants said unto 
 him, Wilt thou then that we go and 
 gather them up? But he said, Nay; 
 lest while ye gather up the tares ye root 
 up also the wheat with them. Let both 
 grow together until the harvest : and in 
 the time of harvest I will say to the 
 reapers, Gather ye together first the 
 tares, and bind them in bundles to burn 
 them; but gather the wheat into my 
 barn." Now for the meaning of this 
 parable. It is neither guess-work nor 
 inference ; nor is it conjecture. It is 
 given by the Divine authority, with 
 every element of uncertainty eliminated. 
 The multitude who heard the parable had 
 dispersed, and the disciples came to him 
 in the house, and said to him, " Declare 
 unto us the parable of the tares of the 
 
THE CRISIS. 79 
 
 field. " "He answered and said unto 
 them, He that soweth the good seed is 
 the Son of man ; the field is the world ; 
 the good seed are the children of the 
 kingdom ; but the tares are the children 
 of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed 
 them is the devil ; the harvest is the end 
 of the world ; and the reapers are the 
 angels. As therefore the tares are gath- 
 ered and burned in the fire : so shall it 
 be in the end of this world. The Son 
 of man shall send forth his angels, and 
 they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
 things that offend, and them which do 
 iniquity ; and shall cast them into a 
 furnace of fire : there shall be wailing 
 and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the 
 righteous shine forth as the sun in the 
 kingdom of their Father. Who hath 
 ears to hear, let him hear." 
 
 When the Lord talked thus to his dis- 
 ciples, to whom was to be committed 
 
8o THE CRISIS. 
 
 the task of unfolding the mysteries of 
 his kingdom after his departure from 
 earth, he threw off the covering and dra- 
 pery of the parable, and spoke plainly, 
 pointedly, and literally, of the agencies 
 of evil to be encountered in the world, 
 and of the outcome of the world-wide 
 and age-lasting conflict. By no possi- 
 ble interpretation can his words be made 
 to mean anything other than that " the 
 field is the world.' ' It is just as literally 
 true that "the v tares are the children of 
 the wicked one." Nor can there be any 
 propriety in trying to modify the words, 
 "The enemy that sowed them is the 
 devil." Satanic agency in the wicked- 
 ness of human lives could not be more 
 positively asserted in human speech. 
 
 DEVIL WORSHIP. 
 Another illustration of the dominion 
 of the devil in this world, showing the 
 height of his presumptuous claims as its 
 
THE CRISIS. 8 1 
 
 ruling "prince," is found in the fact 
 that, as the ambitious rival of the Deity, 
 he delights in being worshiped, and 
 appropriates to himself all the worship 
 paid to idols and false divinities. This 
 dominant ambition displayed itself when, 
 at the climax of his supreme audacity, 
 he proposed that the Son of man should 
 fall down and w° rs hip him. He is the 
 presiding divinity in every pagan temple 
 on the earth, the god of every idolatrous 
 altar and shrine. To him are offered 
 the sacrifices and the incense of all the 
 false worship of the ages. Not that he 
 is always known, or that the honors paid 
 to idols are consciously intended for him 
 by the worshipers ; that is not necessary 
 to his purpose or scheme. He delights in 
 the false ; he revels in the deceptions and 
 ignorance of his victims ; he gloats over 
 the impurities and degradation of men. 
 His sphere is darkness and his reign is 
 
82 THE CRISIS. 
 
 death. Why, then, should he seek to 
 be known? That is not his aim. He 
 is worshiped in ignorance, and delights 
 in service not his own, except so far as 
 whatever is false and impure is his. 
 
 In the book of Deuteronomy we read : 
 "But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; 
 thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, 
 thou art covered with fatness ; then he 
 forsook God which made him, and lightly 
 esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 
 They provoked him to jealousy with 
 strange gods, with abominations pro- 
 voked they him to anger. They sacri- 
 ficed unto devils, not to God; to gods 
 whom they knew not, to new gods that 
 came newly up, whom your fathers feared 
 not." (Deut. xxxii, 15-17.) "And they 
 shall no more offer their sacrifices unto 
 devils, after whom they have gone a 
 whoring. This shall be a statute for- 
 ever unto them throughout their gener- 
 
THE CRISIS. 83 
 
 ations." (L,eviticus xvii, 7.) When the 
 psalmist summed up the faults of the 
 people of Israel in their apostasies, he 
 said: "They were mingled with the 
 heathen, and learned their works. And 
 they served idols which were a snare 
 unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their 
 sons and their daughters unto devils, and 
 shed innocent blood, even the blood of 
 their sons and of their daughters, whom 
 they saacrificed unto the idols of Ca- 
 naan." (Psalm cvi, 35-38.) Among the 
 heinous sins of Jeroboam and his sons, 
 the fact is recorded that they " cast off 
 the Levites from being priests unto the 
 lyord, and he ordained him priests for 
 the high places, and for the devils, and 
 for the calves which he had made." 
 (2 Chron. xi, 15.) 
 
 It will be claimed that these Old Tes- 
 tament records, which were intended to 
 portray the baseness and degradation of 
 
84 THE CRISIS. 
 
 the worshipers of idols, regard all idols 
 as devils, because the divinities repre- 
 sented by the idols were rivals of the 
 God of Israel, and were therefore adver- 
 saries, or devils, in the estimation of the 
 loyal worshipers of the living God. This 
 is certainly true, but it is not the whole 
 truth. These idols were not called 
 devils because they were dumb and 
 senseless, nor because they drew away 
 the people after them. The thought is 
 not conveyed that devils are nothing 
 more than these stupid blocks of wood 
 and stone. The idol stood for a divinity 
 that was not seen ; for an invisible 
 agency, with intelligence and power and 
 activity; for an unseen force, which was 
 gifted in bewitching and corrupting the 
 people, doing for them and with them 
 the things which the Scriptures uni- 
 formly ascribe to fallen angels or devils. 
 It was therefore natural to speak of idols 
 
THE CRISIS. 85 
 
 as devils, and of idol-worship as devil- 
 worship. He who blinds and deceives 
 men, and leads them into corrupted and 
 corrupting worship, is the devil. 
 
 The Apostle Paul took a realistic view 
 of this subject, and without hesitation or 
 reservation pronounced all idol-worship 
 devil-worship: " Behold Israel after the 
 flesh : are not they which eat of the sac- 
 rifices partakers of the altar? What say 
 I then? that the idol is anything, or that 
 which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any- 
 thing ? But I say, that the things which 
 the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 
 devils, and not to God: and I would not 
 that ye should have fellowship with devils. 
 Ye can not drink the cup of the Lord, 
 and the cup of devils: ye can not be 
 partakers of the Lord's table, and of the 
 table of devils." (1 Cor. x, 18-21.) The 
 apostle was neither dramatic nor rhetor- 
 ical in this appeal; but earnest, terse, 
 
86 THE CRISIS. 
 
 and nervous in his utterance, evidently 
 feeling that the subject in hand required 
 plainness and strength, rather than or- 
 nament. " Fellowship with devils" was 
 not to be tolerated, and yet that dread- 
 ful thing stood before him as a menace 
 to the work of God. It was a living 
 danger, not to receive dallying, but de- 
 nunciation; and yet in expressing the 
 indignation within him, he must avoid 
 conceding that the idol was anything in 
 itself. Whatever the idol was, or what- 
 ever its name or form, or whatever it 
 expressed in symbol to the worshiper, in 
 the apostle's enlightened conception the 
 devil was behind the idol, and claimed 
 the honor and the adoration, and his was 
 the fellowship. The altar and the sac- 
 rifice were his — his, in fact, because they 
 were false and corrupting, and his be- 
 cause of his instigation. Thus it is with 
 all idolatries, whether formal or informal, 
 
THE CRISIS. 87 
 
 whether visible or invisible, whether ma- 
 terial or spiritual, whether in heathen or 
 in Christian lands. He whose worship 
 is false, worships only the devil. 
 
 In the record of the disasters which 
 follow the sounding of the sixth trum- 
 pet, in the Apocalyptic vision, it is writ- 
 ten: "And the rest of the men which 
 were not killed by these plagues yet re- 
 pented not of the works of their hands, 
 that they should not worship devils, and 
 idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and 
 stone, and of wood, which neither can 
 see, nor hear, nor walk." (Rev. ix, 20.) 
 With their gross conceptions of the 
 character of their gods, and with their 
 faint perception of moral distinctions, 
 and their benumbed sensibilities, it is 
 scarcely strange that worshipers of idols 
 fail to distinguish between good and bad 
 divinities, and think only of powers sup- 
 posed to be able to harm them in anger, 
 
88 THE CRISIS. 
 
 and able to favor them if propitiated by 
 sacrifice. With them, divinities and 
 devils are nearly related. Their gods at 
 best are scarcely better than devils, and 
 their worship is such as devils approve. 
 The moral natures of men absorbed in 
 the pursuit of gold, worshiping only at 
 the shrine of mammon, become as mor- 
 bid and sensual, as obtuse to spiritual 
 things, and as thoroughly deadened to 
 the claims of righteousness, as those 
 who worship images made of gold, or 
 silver, or stone, or wood. While they 
 would scout the intimation as preposter- 
 ous and offensive, they are in fact wor- 
 shipers of idols and devils. 
 
 DELIVERED FROM SATAN. 
 Another fact which declares with 
 marked emphasis the power of Satan 
 over human souls is, that in the Scrip- 
 tures the conversion of a sinner is re- 
 garded, in every instance, as a soul de- ' 
 
THE CRISIS. 89 
 
 livered from the dominion of the devil. 
 This appears in the commission given 
 the Apostle Paul at the time of his own 
 conversion. His fullest statement of the 
 scope of his commission is found in his 
 address delivered in the presence of 
 Agrippa, Acts xxvi, 15-18: "And I said, 
 Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I 
 am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
 rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have 
 appeared unto thee for this purpose, to 
 make thee a minister and a witness both 
 of these things which thou hast seen, 
 and of those things in which I will ap- 
 pear unto thee; delivering thee from 
 the people, and from the Gentiles, unto 
 whom now I send thee, to open their 
 eyes, and to turn them from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God, that they may receive forgiveness 
 of sins, and inheritance among them 
 which are sanctified by faith that is in 
 
90 THE CRISIS. 
 
 ine." No grander conception of the 
 gospel ministry was ever expressed in 
 human speech. Its aim is to "turn men 
 from darkness to light, from the power 
 of Satan unto God." Before the gospel 
 reaches them, they are in "darkness," 
 and under "the power of Satan." The 
 gospel of God is light, a light shining 
 in darkness, banishing ignorance, super- 
 stition, and unbelief. It is also the gos- 
 pel of power. It breaks the bonds in 
 which Satan holds his captives, and * 
 gives them freedom. It lifts them out 
 of death into life. After exercising this 
 commission till full proof was made of 
 it, this apostle exultingly describes the 
 result of his ministry: "Giving thanks 
 unto the Father, which hath made us 
 meet to be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light ; who hath de- 
 livered us from the power of darkness, 
 and hath translated us into the kingdom 
 
THE CRISIS. 91 
 
 of his dear Son : in whom we have re- 
 demption through his blood, even the 
 forgiveness of sins." Here are the bless- 
 ings he was commissioned to bear to the 
 Gentiles. Under his preaching they 
 were "turned from darkness to light, 
 from the power of Satan unto God," and 
 fitted for this higher fellowship and this 
 nobler inheritance. From being slaves 
 to the devil, they become the Lord's 
 freemen. 
 
 A leading truth, firmly grasped, sheds 
 light on incidental and subordinate mat- 
 ters which are enveloped in deep ob- 
 scurity when standing alone. The doc- 
 trine that Satan rules in the kingdom of 
 darkness, in which the ungodly abide, 
 illustrates what is otherwise difficult of 
 interpretation in the apostolic Church. 
 Paul speaks of persons excommunicated 
 or cut off from the fellowship of the 
 Church for open wickedness, as "de- 
 
92 THE CRISIS, 
 
 livered unto Satan." After the fail- 
 ure to reform or correct their lives by 
 proper instruction and discipline, they 
 were pronounced incorrigible, and given 
 up as hopeless. They were simply 
 abandoned to their former state. The 
 ecclesiastical withdrawal of the fellow- 
 ship of the Church was the act of de- 
 livering the offender over to Satan. 
 The expression is strong; for the act 
 was one of deep solemnity, and meant 
 much to those whose views of the 
 powers of darkness accorded with the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 The apostle's description of the qual- 
 ification and work of a minister follows 
 in this line, implying the same thing. 
 Its incidental testimony is not less con- 
 vincing because incidental: "And the 
 servant of the Lord must not strive; 
 but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, 
 patient; in meekness instructing those 
 
THE CRISIS. 93 
 
 that oppose themselves; if God perad- 
 venture will give them repentance to 
 the acknowledging of the truth; and 
 that they may recover themselves out of 
 the snare of the devil, who are taken 
 captive by him at his will." (2 Tim. 
 ii, 24-26.) All who resist the truth, 
 " oppose themselves.'' They stand in 
 their own light; they disregard their 
 highest interests, while thinking to serve 
 themselves; their spiritual vision is ob- 
 structed by overhanging clouds of world- 
 liness. Moreover, they are in "the snare 
 of the devil." These are strong words, 
 much too strong to be meaningless. 
 Behind them there is a condition, a 
 moral estate, abnormal it may be, but a 
 veritable condition of thralldom, in 
 which the soul is held as a prisoner in 
 the hands of an adversary. It is "taken 
 captive by him at his will." Thus are 
 all the unsaved. They are under the 
 
94 THE CRISIS. 
 
 dominion^ of the devil, and can only 
 " recover themselves " by " repentance 
 to the acknowledging of the truth. " 
 
 It is thought by some to be a sort of 
 illiberal species of bigotry to assign all 
 the unsaved to the kingdom of dark- 
 ness, and to regard wicked men as being 
 under the power of the devil. This 
 may be done sometimes in the spirit of 
 bigotry; but it is well to be sure who 
 does it, and in what spirit, before per- 
 mitting indignation to burn against it 
 with consuming heat. To whose king- 
 dom do the wicked belong? The be- 
 loved apostle, whose spirit was richly 
 imbued with the love of the Master 
 and with love to men, said: "In this the 
 children of God are manifest, and the 
 children of the devil: whosoever doeth 
 not righteousness is not of God, neither 
 he that loveth not his brother." Nor is 
 this language any stronger than that 
 
THE CRISIS. 95 
 
 used by the Savior himself. The Jews 
 said to Jesus: "We have one Father, 
 even God." This is the chief delusion 
 of the unregenerate. They assume that 
 they can be God's children without be- 
 ing born again. Jesus flatly denied their 
 claim in this respect, and once for all 
 condemned such pretensions. He said, 
 in reply: "If God were your Father, ye 
 would love me: for I proceeded forth 
 and came from God; neither came I of 
 myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not 
 understand my speech? even because ye 
 can not hear my word. Ye are of your 
 father the devil, and the lusts of your 
 father ye will do." (John viii, 41-44.) 
 If it be true that "the tares are the chil- 
 dren of the wicked one," and if, as the 
 beloved disciple has said, "Whosoever 
 committeth sin is of the devil," and if 
 the prince of the devils rules in the em- 
 pire of darkness, then to look upon the 
 
96 THE CRISIS. 
 
 race of ungodly men as belonging to the 
 kingdom of the devil, is not going be- 
 yond the clearest possible Scripture 
 warrant; and any charge of narrowness 
 or bigotry which this position involves, 
 lies with full force against the Lord him- 
 self and his holy apostles. 
 
 The Jews to whom Christ talked so 
 plainly were typical men in some re- 
 spects. They were not atheists ; neither 
 were they profligates. After their fash- 
 ion they were religious. They were lin- 
 eal descendants of Abraham, and within 
 the covenant in the literal sense; but 
 spiritual blindness was upon them. 
 Their claim was: "We have one Father, 
 even God." It was no doubt very ab- 
 rupt and extremely offensive when the 
 Lord said to them: "Ye are of your 
 father the devil." ' Their "liberalism" 
 was shocked. He was too literal! Paul 
 found one of this kind on the island of 
 
THE CRISIS, 97 
 
 Cyprus — one who opposed the apostle, 
 and tried to turn the deputy, a convert, 
 away from the faith. The Spirit of God 
 came upon the apostle, and, moved by 
 a sacred impulse, Paul u set his eyes on 
 him," and pronounced such words as a 
 desperate case demanded: "O, full of all 
 subtilty and all mischief, thou child of 
 the devil, thou enemy of all righteous- 
 ness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the 
 right ways of the L,ord?" Such plain- 
 ness of speech appears to many to be 
 quite illiberal. No doubt Ely mas 
 thought Paul a bigot! But the blind- 
 ness which fell on his natural vision 
 was the fit symbol of the state of his 
 mind with regard to the things of God. 
 Truth is not the less truth because 
 unwelcome. Wicked men are none the 
 less certainly the children of the devil 
 because they do not like to believe it. 
 False teachers can afford to be liberal, 
 7 
 
98 THE CRISIS. 
 
 They are always broad. Like the mas- 
 ter they serve, they have no fondness for 
 any " narrow way." As there were false 
 prophets of old, so were there " false 
 apostles " in the days of the apostles, 
 " deceitful workers, transforming them- 
 selves into the apostles of Christ. And 
 no marvel: for Satan himself is trans- 
 formed into an angel of light. There- 
 fore it is no great thing if his ministers 
 be transformed as the ministers of right- 
 eousness; whose end shall be according 
 to their works." (2 Cor. xi, 14, 15.) 
 Ministers of Satan, transformed into 
 ministers of righteousness, never claim 
 for Satan what is his own. In this they 
 are singular among men, but in harmony 
 with their master. Satan does not wish 
 to be known, and his agents never pro- 
 claim his presence or his power. He 
 works in the darkness, and hates the 
 
THE CRISIS. 99 
 
 light. His ministers please him by de- 
 nying him, and denying his existence; 
 therefore they are never heard warning 
 men, as did the apostles of Christ, "lest 
 they fall into the condemnation of the 
 devil. " Of all men they are the most 
 "liberal," the most advanced in lines of 
 worldly thought, the most prompt to 
 disclaim against bondage to creeds, and 
 the readiest to assure the devotees of 
 pleasure and sin that there is neither 
 devil nor danger. God's prophet Ezekiel 
 had to do with such teachers in his day, 
 and his burning words of denunciation 
 apply with undiminished force fo all 
 who deal with God's Word deceitfully: 
 "Because with lies ye have made the 
 righteous sad, whom I have not made 
 sad; and strengthened the hands of the 
 wicked, that he should not return from 
 his wicked way, by promising him life!" 
 
IOO THE CRISIS. 
 
 THE DEVIL WARS WITH BELIEVERS. 
 
 The next fact to be noticed has spe- 
 cial significance in this study. It is, 
 that the devil pursues believers after 
 they are converted, making the Chris- 
 tian life a continuous conflict with spir- 
 itual foes, as well as with the infirmities 
 of the flesh and the allurements of the 
 world. 
 
 The disciples of Christ were assailed 
 by the devil from the beginning. To 
 Simon Peter the Master said: " Satan 
 hath desired to have you, that he might 
 sift you as wheat; but I have prayed 
 for thee, that thy faith fail not." It 
 was a case of special peril, which the 
 Savior foresaw, and in view of which he 
 forewarned his servant, and forearmed 
 him for the conflict, the memory of 
 which warning must have flashed upon 
 Peter's mind with peculiar power when 
 the reproving lopk of Jesus arrested his 
 
THE CRISIS. IOI 
 
 attention after his wretched denial. The 
 event illustrates the devil's vigilance 
 and the Savior's solicitude. The same 
 evil power was successful with one of 
 the twelve. The apostasy of Judas and 
 his betrayal of Christ must be ascribed 
 to Satanic influence: " After the sop, 
 Satan entered into him." The disciples 
 at Rome were in sore trials when the 
 Apostle Paul comforted them with the 
 assurance that the "God of peace shall 
 bruise Satan under your feet shortly." 
 He also himself found it necessary to be 
 on his guard against the machinations 
 of the devil, as he expressed the danger: 
 "Lest Satan should get an advantage of 
 us; for we are not ignorant of his de- 
 vices." On one occasion, when he had 
 been unable to accomplish a cherished 
 purpose, which was to visit Thessalonica, 
 he attributed his failure to the fact that 
 "Satan hindered us." This apostle's 
 
102 THE CRISIS. 
 
 writings teem with recognitions of the 
 industry and power of the great adver- 
 sary, and of the necessity of watchful- 
 ness on the part of Christians in order 
 to avoid his interruptions; and yet they 
 abound with expressions of perfect con- 
 fidence in the ability of Christ to keep 
 his people in safety from all the blan- 
 dishments and evil schemes of this ma- 
 lignant foe. His descriptions of the 
 reigning power of the devil tend to en- 
 hance the value of the Christian's tri- 
 umph by faith. He wavers not, nor 
 would he have any one falter because of 
 any power Satan possesses in this world. 
 The burden of his thought accords with 
 the words of the Apostle James: " Re- 
 sist the devil, and he will flee from you." 
 The apostle gives us his fullest por- 
 trayal of the believer's conflicts with the 
 powers of darkness, in his Epistle to the 
 Ephesians. It is well to study the pic- 
 
THE CRISIS. 103 
 
 ture in its lights and shades, in its scope 
 and in its terms. We shall find in it the 
 ring of battle and the shout of victory: 
 " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the 
 Lord, and in the power of his might. 
 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye 
 may be able to stand against the wiles 
 of the devil. For we wrestle not against 
 flesh and blood, but against principali- 
 ties, against powers, against the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world, against 
 spiritual wickedness in high places ;" 
 or, as in the margin, and more literal, 
 " against wicked spirits on high." This 
 whole conflict is with invisible forces, 
 all external to the one who battles 
 against them, capable of assault, of 
 "wiles," schemes, and devices, for the 
 purpose of carrying out a nefarious pur- 
 pose. "That ye may stand against the 
 wiles of the devil." As the chief adver- 
 sary he plans the battle ; he marshals 
 
104 THE CRISIS. 
 
 the forces and forms the combinations. 
 The rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 the wicked spirits on high, forming prin- 
 cipalities and powers, all move at his 
 command. 
 
 This one phrase includes all the spir- 
 itual enemies of the believer, the other 
 parts of the passage being explanatory or 
 subordinate to this. "The wiles of the 
 devil!" How suggestive these words! 
 They indicate personality, shrewdness, 
 skill, strategy, and power. This devil 
 is, therefore, neither an abstraction nor 
 a figure of speech. Nor yet is he a hu- 
 man passion. He is no part of c< flesh 
 and blood. " The negative points in this 
 description are full of meaning : " We 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood." 
 This is as definite as it is comprehensive. 
 It is not a physical warfare. The words 
 mean this and more. They mean that 
 the opposition comes from outside of hu- 
 
THE CRISIS. 105 
 
 man nature. All the human agencies 
 and forces of evil are included in the 
 words " flesh and blood ;" but here are 
 enemies which are not " flesh and blood." 
 They are not merely spiritual, but they 
 are " spirits," " wicked spirits on high." 
 They are in combination against good, 
 under the leadership of the " prince of 
 the devils." This invisible chieftain 
 musters the wicked spirits of the uni- 
 verse, forms them into " principalities 
 and powers," constitutes them " the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world," 
 and leads them forth to assail the Church 
 of Christ, and to conquer individual be- 
 lievers. Wicked men, and sometimes 
 civil and municipal governments, join in 
 the fight against righteousness, becom- 
 ing the unconscious instruments of un- 
 seen forces ; but their agency is not 
 that which the apostle here recognizes. 
 All visible agencies, all purely human 
 
106 THE CRISIS. 
 
 powers, all human passions, combina- 
 tions, governments, machinations, and 
 animosities, are embraced in the phrase 
 " flesh and blood." The fight is not 
 against these, except as these are insti- 
 gated, directed, and used by the devil, 
 whose " wiles" take in the employment 
 of all instrumentalities available for his 
 purposes. He employs instruments, and 
 he reaches the soul through the senses 
 of the body, and through the passions of 
 the flesh, and through the infirmities of 
 corrupted human nature ; but it is a mis- 
 take to regard that which is an instru- 
 ment as an agent, or the avenues of the 
 devil's approach to the soul, as the devil 
 himself. 
 
 In this warfare against the devil and 
 his " wiles" and devices, we need the 
 armor which the gospel provides. It is 
 a defensive battle in which the child of 
 God contends for his faith and his inher- 
 
THE CRISIS. 107 
 
 itance. " The weapons of our warfare 
 are not carnal, but mighty through God 
 to the pulling down of strongholds.'' 
 These spiritual weapons are graphically 
 described by the apostle: " Wherefore 
 take unto you the whole armor of God, 
 that ye may be able to withstand in the 
 evil day, and having done all to stand. 
 Stand therefore, having your loins girt 
 about with truth, and having on the 
 breastplate of righteousness ; and your 
 feet shod with the preparation of the 
 gospel of peace, and above all, taking 
 the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall 
 be able to quench all the fiery darts of 
 the wicked. And take the helmet of 
 salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, 
 which is the Word of God; praying 
 always with all prayer and supplication 
 in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
 with all supplication for all saints." 
 Why all this spiritual armor, this watch- 
 
108 7 HE CRISIS. 
 
 ing, praying, and continual vigilance, it 
 there be no spiritual foes outside of hu- 
 man nature? If the devil is a myth, 
 and his " wiles " only a figure of speech, 
 why has the Church been taught through 
 the ages to watch, and fight, and pray, 
 as if pursued by invisible spiritual foes, 
 intent upon the destruction of every one 
 whose faith falters? 
 
 THE LAST CONFLICT. 
 The scene of the devil's last conflict, 
 and his ultimate overthrow, is laid in 
 this world. It is in the book of Reve- 
 lation, highly figurative or symbolical 
 in the terms employed in the descrip- 
 tion, yet in scope and meaning quite 
 in harmony with all that has been said 
 herein. The "war in heaven" appears 
 to be the theme; but that "war" was 
 soon transferred to earth, and here be- 
 neath the clouds, where sin has so long 
 held sway, the battle rages till the end : 
 
THE CRISIS. 109 
 
 "And there was war in heaven: Michael 
 and his angels fought against the dragon; 
 and the dragon fought and his angels, 
 and prevailed not; neither was their 
 place found any more in heaven. And 
 the great dragon was cast out, that old 
 serpent called the devil, and Satan, 
 which deceiveth the whole world; he 
 was cast out into the earth, and his an- 
 gels were cast out with him." (Rev. 
 xii, 7-9.) However much of the figura- 
 tive may be found in this language, the 
 fact is plain that the "great dragon" 
 is called the devil and Satan, and he 
 deceiveth the whole world. His contest 
 with the angels has been given up, as 
 he is banished from their realm, that he 
 may engage all his forces in warfare 
 against the Church on earth. This is 
 now his sphere. "He was cast out into 
 the earth, and his angels were cast out 
 with him." 
 
IIO THE CRISIS. 
 
 In this same chapter we read further : 
 "And I heard a loud voice saying in 
 heaven, Now is come salvation, and 
 strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
 and the power of his Christ; for the 
 accuser of our brethren is cast down, 
 which accused them before God day and 
 night. And they overcame him by the 
 blood of the Lamb, and by the word of 
 their testimony; and they loved not 
 their lives unto the death. Therefore 
 rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in 
 them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth 
 and of the sea! for the devil is come 
 down unto you, having great wrath, 
 because he knoweth that he hath but 
 a short time." Symbol or no symbol, 
 there is truth in this passage. "Woe to 
 the inhabiters of the earth!" Sad the 
 day when there was cause for this 
 "woe." "For the devil is come down 
 unto you !" In the light of all that has 
 
THE CRISIS. Ill 
 
 gone before, further exposition is need- 
 less. This world is now the battle-field. 
 Wherever the war began, it is to be 
 fought out here. Here Satan has his 
 seat; here he has obtained dominion, 
 and here he reigns, "the prince of this 
 world ;" and here all the forces of his 
 kingdom are gathered, "the rulers of 
 the darkness of this world," making 
 their final struggle for the mastery. 
 The prize is the control of the human 
 race. For this prize every energy of the 
 kingdom of darkness is enlisted. 
 
 This battle has been going on ever 
 since the beginning of human history. 
 It was inaugurated in Eden when the 
 devil whispered, "Thou shalt not surely 
 die." In the opening assault he carried 
 the citadel of righteousness, and en- 
 throned himself as "the prince of this 
 world." Here he has remained. Under 
 his sway idolatry has risen and flour- 
 
112 THE CRISIS. 
 
 ished; superstition has taken the place 
 of piety; sensuality has dominated, and 
 man's enmity has turned against his 
 kind, making the dark places of the 
 earth the habitations of cruelty. The 
 earth is the charnel-house of the nations 
 and of the ages ; the seat of war for the 
 universe ; the one spot in creation where 
 sin abounds, and death blasts the life of 
 all that live. The devil and his angels 
 are here walking the earth unseen, 
 mingling with the affairs of men, inciting 
 evil passions, instigating unholy ambi- 
 tions, wars, robberies, oppressions, and 
 all disorders; employing every agency 
 and instrumentality that can be used for 
 the purpose of filling the earth with 
 wretchedness and woe. Christians of 
 the former generation portrayed this 
 relentless warfare none too strongly 
 when they sang: 
 
THE CRISIS. 113 
 
 "Angels our march oppose, 
 
 Who still in strength excel, 
 Our secret, sworn, eternal foes, 
 
 Countless, invisible; 
 From thrones of glory driven, 
 
 By flaming vengeance hurled, 
 They throng the air and darken heaven, 
 
 And rule this lower world." 
 
 Accepting, as we must, this Scriptural 
 representation of the kingdom of dark- 
 ness in its relation to this world, we see 
 the reason why the incarnation of the 
 Son of God was here, and not in some 
 other world. " For this purpose the Son 
 of God was manifested, that he might 
 destroy the works of the devil." He 
 came to grapple the usurper in his 
 stronghold, where his temporary tri- 
 umph was the greatest. He came here, 
 where Satan has his home and king- 
 dom ; where are all the hosts of sin ; 
 where, as " prince of this world," his 
 reign of darkness has been so long con- 
 
114 THE crisis. 
 
 tinued. Here, too, is the human race, 
 the object of the devil's sorest hate and 
 of heaven's deepest solicitude. Right 
 here in the battle-field of the universe, 
 in the center of the conflict, in the very 
 heart of the devil's kingdom, and bear- 
 ing the nature over which the arch- 
 enemy had achieved his greatest victory, 
 came the Son of man to redeem the 
 fallen race, to break the power of Satan, 
 bruise his head, and ultimately to cast 
 him out. This conflict, which began 
 in Eden, culminated at Calvary. The 
 crisis came when the Son of God was 
 lifted up from the earth. That was the 
 turning-point. Till then was " the hour 
 and power of darkness." In that hour 
 Satan bruised the heel of the seed of 
 the woman, and the seed of the woman 
 bruised his head. The victory was 
 assured when, on the morning of the 
 third day, the Son of man proclaimed, 
 
THE CRISIS, 115 
 
 " I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, 
 behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; 
 and have the keys of hell and of death." 
 That shout of victory echoed through 
 all the worlds, and rings down through 
 the ages. The crisis is past! The 
 work of redemption is complete. " Now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast 
 out." 
 
 This act of redemption laid the foun- 
 dation for the kingdom of God upon 
 earth. It fulfilled promise and prophesy, 
 and provided for the overthrow of Satan's 
 kingdom ; for the ultimate casting out of 
 "the prince of this world, " whose reign 
 was a usurpation, and whose power was 
 the curse of man. 
 
 The prince of this world hath nothing 
 in Christ. There is nothing in com- 
 mon between these two. "What con- 
 cord hath Christ with Belial ?" Their 
 kingdoms are antagonistic. As dark- 
 
Il6 THE CRISIS. 
 
 ness recedes before the advancing light, 
 so with the coming of the kingdom of 
 Christ the reign of "the prince of this 
 world' ' passes away. While the provis- 
 ion for this final conquest is complete, 
 and the result assured, the actual cast- 
 ing out of Satan is gradual and pro- 
 gressive. The soul of man is the area 
 of the spiritual empire. When Christ 
 is enthroned within, the evil prince is 
 cast out. As one after another accepts 
 Christ and is born into the kingdom, 
 the kingdom of darkness suffers loss. 
 
 This work of translation from one 
 kingdom into another has been going 
 on through the ages. It is an individ- 
 ual experience. It requires the concur- 
 rence of the human will. Coercion is 
 impossible. Force has no place in the 
 contest. Progress is therefore slow, and 
 sometimes the outcome appears uncer- 
 tain. Herein is revealed the sphere of 
 
THE CRISIS. 117 
 
 faith. All power is given unto the Son, 
 who is able to conquer, and whose tri- 
 umph is assured. The work of conver- 
 sion will go on — the work of rescue — till 
 the kingdoms of this world are become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ. ' l He shall not fail nor be discour- 
 aged till he have set judgment in the 
 earth." " For he must reign till he hath 
 put all enemies under his feet." What 
 was done provisionally in Christ's death, 
 must be accomplished in fact through 
 the power of his Spirit. The works of 
 the devil must be destroyed as the final 
 moral achievement. 
 
 The gospel of Jesus Christ is the 
 ordained instrumentality for this work, 
 and the Holy Spirit is the efficient agent. 
 The subjugation of evil is essentially a 
 divine work, yet one which God carries 
 forward mainly through human instru- 
 mentalities, giving to man, redeemed 
 
Il8 THE CRISIS. 
 
 from thralldom to sin and Satan an 
 honorable part in the battle and in the 
 triumph. Every convert becomes a sol- 
 dier in this war, enlisted under the ban- 
 ner of the cross, and to every victor there 
 is a crown. While the achievement is 
 not by might nor by human power, but 
 by the Spirit of the Lord, yet the part 
 assigned to human agency is worthy of 
 the noblest efforts that Christian faitK 
 can inspire. It is man doing God's work 
 in God's name and through his power. 
 The result is the dethronement of Sa- 
 tan, the casting out of "the prince of 
 this world " from his usurped dominion, 
 the emancipation of the nations from his 
 long and cruel sway, and the uplifting 
 of humanity to its rightful plane of life. 
 It means the restoration of God's own 
 life to human souls, the recovery of their 
 powers from spiritual bondage to the 
 noblest freedom through regeneration. 
 
THE CRISIS. 119 
 
 It means the destruction of idolatry and 
 superstition, the removal of tyranny and 
 oppression from human governments, 
 the banishment of deception and fraud 
 from social and business relations, the 
 purification of personal and domestic 
 life, and the establishment of peace on 
 earth and good-will towards men. In a 
 word, it means the conquest of this 
 world for Christ, and all the blessedness 
 of his reign and kingdom, with the ban- 
 ishment of the devil and his angels into 
 " outer darkness, " to await their final 
 doom — the doom awaiting all the en- 
 emies of God, impressively symbolized 
 by the "lake of fire and brimstone" 
 and the "second death." 
 
NOTE. 
 
 As supplementary to the foregoing, the 
 following discourses or chapters on kindred 
 topics are supposed to be not inappropriate. 
 Indeed they seem to the author to be exactly 
 in place. The doctrine of eternal retribution 
 has logical relation to the existence, power, 
 and doom of the devil. It must be under- 
 stood, however, that the treatment of the 
 themes introduced is not designed to be com- 
 plete. It is purposely partial and brief, } T et it 
 is believed that it touches essential points, 
 and indicates a line of argument w 7 hich will 
 stand in the future, as it has stood in the past, 
 against the fiercest attacks the opposition can 
 make. After all, there is an " eternal sin" 
 and an "eternal condemnation." 
 
 S. M. M. 
 1 20 
 
II. 
 
 The Unpardonable Sin. 
 
 " Hath never forgiveness."— mark hi, 29. 
 TT becomes all who believe the Scrip- 
 * tures to be divine to study them, not 
 only in their historical, doctrinal, and 
 ethical teachings, which are easily un- 
 derstood, but also in their intricate parts, 
 and in what some regard as their "hard 
 sayings.'' It is not to be denied that 
 in the discourses of our Lord, as well as 
 in the writings of the apostles, there are 
 some things " hard to be understood, " 
 which ignorant and superficial thinkers 
 are liable to " wrest unto their own 
 destruction." 
 
 Such are the passages in which men- 
 tion is made of the sin which can not be 
 
122 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 forgiven. While there is, and will be, 
 more or less of mystery in these words, 
 and while we may not be able to get 
 hold of their full significance, it must 
 be that a careful study of them will 
 bring us to such a comprehension of 
 their import as will be useful, and pos- 
 sibly be the means of ministering grace 
 to our hearts, and certainly prove of 
 service in warning the wayward. They 
 are the words of the L,ord, spoken on 
 an occasion of great solemnity, and no 
 doubt with an earnestness becoming 
 their weight and the far-reaching results 
 of their deliverance. We approach them 
 reverentially, and desire to grasp the 
 truth they contain with unbiased minds, 
 and to give it the exact place in the 
 great scheme of Christian doctrines to 
 which it is entitled. 
 
 The subject of blasphemy necessarily 
 belongs to the severer aspects of the 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 23 
 
 system of Christianity. In the nature 
 of things it must have to do with the 
 doctrines of retribution. In some way it 
 relates to the subject of diabolical influ- 
 ence and power, so that its treatment is 
 not out of place in connection with a 
 discourse on the existence and power of 
 the devils. The word itself indicates 
 the character of the offense. But for 
 theological speculations concerning it 
 there would be little occasion for look- 
 ing beyond a proper definition of the 
 term for its meaning. It is a sin usually 
 expressed in words, a sin of the tongue, 
 and yet the words come forth out of the 
 heart, and express the condition of the 
 heart. Blasphemy is found in that dark 
 list of evils which the Lord said pro- 
 ceed from the heart and defile the man. 
 To blaspheme is to speak against ; it 
 is to express opposition, ridicule, con- 
 tempt. It indicates spite, hatred, or ani- 
 
124 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 mosity, and this state of feeling induced 
 or accompanied by irreverence, so that 
 while the heart is malignant, it is also 
 light and superficial. Gross profanity 
 is in common usage called blasphemy, 
 and this designation is not inappropriate. 
 He who uses the name of God flippantly 
 and irreverently, makes near approaches 
 to the sin of blasphemy, if he does not 
 come to the full measure of this dread- 
 ful offense of deriding things sacred and 
 divine. In the two blasphemies men- 
 tioned in the Scriptures to be considered, 
 there is no intimation of any difference 
 in the nature of the sin, so far as the 
 outward form or expression is concerned, 
 and certainly no marks are given by 
 which the essence of one can be dis- 
 tinguished from the other, except the 
 simple fact that one is against the Son of 
 man, and the other is against the Holy 
 Ghost. In fact and in substance or na- 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 25 
 
 ture, they are the same. Both are blas- 
 phemy ; both are found in words spoken, 
 revealing the state of the heart ; and in 
 both there is the enmity and derision 
 that would treat the work of God as the 
 work of the devil. 
 
 With this general statement we group 
 together the passages forming the 
 groundwork and substance of our study : 
 " Wherefore I say unto you, All manner 
 of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven 
 unto men ; but the blasphemy against 
 the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven 
 unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
 word against the Son of man, it shall be 
 forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh 
 against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be 
 forgiven him, neither in this world, 
 neither in the world to come." (Matt, 
 xii, 31, 32.) " Verily I say unto you, 
 All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons 
 of men, and blasphemies wherewith 
 
126 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 soever they shall blaspheme ; but he 
 that shall blaspheme against the Holy 
 Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in 
 danger of eternal damnation." (Mark 
 iii, 28, 29.) In Luke we have the same 
 thought, but seemingly in another con- 
 nection: "And whosoever shall speak 
 a word against the Son of man, it shall 
 be forgiven him ; but unto him that 
 blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it 
 shall not be forgiven." (Luke xii, 10.) 
 It would be presumptuous to proceed 
 in the study of these Scriptures, and of 
 this great theme, without considering 
 what has been said by others, and said 
 so clearly and with such plausibility as 
 to command very general acceptance, 
 becoming an accredited part of the lit- 
 erature of the Church. In whatever 
 way and to whatever extent w T e depart 
 from the most prevalent interpretation, 
 we want it understood that our position 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 27 
 
 is taken deliberately, after weighing the 
 subject in all its bearings, and under 
 the best light at our command. 
 
 The first question that interests the 
 student is as to the possibility of com- 
 mitting this greatest blasphemy, this un- 
 pardonable offense, at the present time, 
 under the dispensation of the gospel. 
 The motive that inclines the minister of 
 Christ to answer this question in the 
 negative, if he can find ground on which 
 to base such an answer, is commend- 
 able in the highest degree. He is beset 
 by anxious persons laboring under temp- 
 tation, perplexed with doubts and fears, 
 and buffeted by Satan to the border of 
 despair, because of the apprehension 
 that they have become guilty of this sin, 
 and crossed the line of possible recovery 
 to salvation. The minister feels how 
 important it is to break this delusion of 
 the devil, and to arouse hope in these 
 
128 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 anxious souls, so that he may lead them 
 out of this darkness into the clear sun- 
 shine of the divine promises. In his 
 anxiety at this point he reads again the 
 interpretation that restricts the possi- 
 bility of this sin to those who witnessed 
 the miracles of Christ, and obstinately 
 attributed them to the devil, and he 
 feels constrained to accept the interpre- 
 tation, and to use it for the relief of 
 those who are in distress. His own 
 feelings, as well as his interest in those 
 whom he would lift out of despondency, 
 incline him to wish this interpretation 
 might be the correct one, and with the 
 wish it becomes easy to persuade him- 
 self that it is even so. There is no 
 doubt that this is the exact process 
 through which many have reached the 
 conclusion that the unpardonable sin 
 belonged to the days of Christ, and can 
 not be committed in our day. 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN, 1 29 
 
 Of course an opinion which has been 
 so widely accepted must have something 
 more than a wish behind it. There 
 must be something in the wording of 
 the Scriptures that looks in that direc- 
 tion, and gives apparent reasonableness 
 to the construction. That such is the 
 fact is readily conceded. Without the 
 recognition of this condition of things 
 our study of the subject would be incom- 
 plete. We must therefore look at the 
 things which seem to countenance this 
 interpretation, and see them as they are, 
 and allow them all the weight that be- 
 longs to them. The assumption is that 
 the offense consisted in attributing the 
 miracles wrought by the Son of man to 
 the devil. In doing this, these obsti- 
 nate Jews rejected the evidence of their 
 senses, closed their eyes to the clearest 
 light that could fall upon them, trifled 
 with Divine testimony, and evinced the 
 
130 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 deepest hatred to their Benefactor. 
 Their sin was great. There is no doubt 
 that it was blasphemy. The question 
 is not as to whether they were guilty 
 of blasphemy in their contemptuous 
 treatment of Christ and his works, but 
 whether they, and they alone, in this ma- 
 lignant hate, were guilty of blaspheming 
 against the Holy Ghost. We must look 
 at the whole record. 
 
 The connection shows that the Phar- 
 isees did what is alleged ; they attrib- 
 uted his works to Satanic influence. 
 They said : " This fellow doth not cast 
 out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of 
 the devils." In reply to this accusation 
 Jesus said : " Every kingdom divided 
 against itself is brought to desolation: 
 and every city or house divided against 
 itself shall not stand: and if Satan cast 
 out Satan, he is divided against himself; 
 how shall then his kingdom stand? And 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 131 
 
 if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by 
 whom do your children cast them out? 
 Therefore they shall be your judges. 
 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of 
 God, then the kingdom of God is come 
 unto you." This accusation and inter- 
 view was the occasion of these remark- 
 able utterances on the subject of blas- 
 phemy; there is no doubt about that. 
 Mark asserts that he spoke these things 
 " because they said, He hath an unclean 
 spirit." No worse accusation was ever 
 brought against him ; nothing could 
 have been more offensive. Yet he bore 
 it without resentment. While he spoke 
 plainly of results, and warned his hearers 
 of the dreadfulness of their sin, he 
 avoided all appearance of personal pique 
 or disposition to retaliate. But he recog- 
 nized their blasphemy, and dealt faith- 
 fully with it. He knew that they spoke 
 against him. They treated him with 
 
132 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 derision and contempt. In this they 
 were guilty of blasphemy ; but their 
 blasphemy was against himself. It was 
 the lesser grade of blasphemy, so to 
 speak ; the blasphemy that might be 
 forgiven. This fact is clear, and it 
 ought to be unquestionable, for it is 
 vital to the right interpretation. 
 
 It is strange that this fact is so gen- 
 erally overlooked, while it is assumed 
 that the more heinous blasphemy was 
 committed in the presence of him who 
 nttered these words. The Jews who 
 rejected him, spoke against him and 
 blasphemed, having him alone in mind 
 while they burned with hatred towards 
 him, thinking of no other. At best, 
 they had vague conceptions of the Holy 
 Ghost. He was not in their thoughts. 
 His dispensation was not yet come. In 
 the higher sense to which Jesus was 
 training hi§ disciples to look for his man- 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 33 
 
 ifestation, "the Holy Ghost was not yet 
 given, because that Jesus was not yet 
 glorified.'' Blasphemy against him 
 could hardly be expected before his 
 fuller revelation, to take place after the 
 departure of the Son of man. Why, 
 then, this admonition? Why such a 
 fearful denunciation of this greater sin, 
 which had not yet been committed, and 
 which was as yet scarcely possible? 
 The language is premonitory. This is 
 the key to the mystery. The Pharisees 
 were speaking against the Son of man, 
 were blaspheming him, charging him 
 with being in collusion with the devil, 
 and the spirit that prompted them to 
 this would lead them to the still greater 
 sin, the blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost. So he warned them beforehand. 
 His address to them was as if he had 
 said: "I see the enmity of your hearts. 
 You are enraged against me; you speak 
 
134 UNPARDONABLE SIN, 
 
 against me with all bitterness and 
 venom; you despise me, and treat me 
 as an impostor, and accuse me with 
 having a devil. You see my works, and 
 can not deny that devils are cast out; 
 but you attribute what I do to Beelze- 
 bub, the prince of the devils. This is 
 blasphemy. It is blasphemy against 
 me — against the Son of man. It is a 
 dreadful sin. It reveals a blinded, stub- 
 born, malignant heart. But, mind you! 
 wicked as is this blasphemy against 
 me, it is less dangerous than what may 
 follow. It may be forgiven. Repent- 
 ance is possible. But I forewarn you! 
 There is another blasphemy. I shall 
 return to the Father, and the Holy 
 Ghost will come; and when he is come, 
 he may be spoken against. This spirit 
 which you exhibit towards me will lead 
 you to blaspheme against him. Who- 
 soever shall speak against him, and 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 35 
 
 blaspheme, shall not be forgiven. Be 
 ye warned in time ! He that shall treat 
 the Holy Ghost as yon have treated me, 
 hath never forgiveness, but shall be in 
 danger of eternal damnation." 
 
 This interpretation must strike every 
 one as reasonable; and it is certainly 
 more in harmony with the whole situa- 
 tion than is that which makes the wit- 
 nesses of Christ's miracles guilty of the 
 greater sin in charging him with having 
 a devil. That view, so common and 
 widespread, takes too little account of 
 the first blasphemy — that against the 
 Son of man; and it comes too nearly 
 confounding the two blasphemies, leav- 
 ing scarcely any room for distinguishing 
 between them. Our Lord looked ahead. 
 The premonitory character of his ad- 
 dress must not be disregarded. He laid 
 down an unchanging principle that per- 
 tained especially to the period of the 
 
136 UNPARDONABLE SIN, 
 
 development of the kingdom of God on 
 earth, the time of the gospel, which is 
 the dispensation of the Spirit. It is 
 therefore proper to believe that resist- 
 ance to the Holy Ghost under the gos- 
 pel, when the Spirit of God does his 
 most effective work, when carried to the 
 point of utter rejection and malignant 
 ridicule, will result in such a withdrawal 
 of his presence, such an abandonment of 
 the sinner to his obduracy, as to render 
 him incapable of repentance, thereby 
 making forgiveness impossible. The 
 outward form of this sin is not described. 
 Its nature is more important, and that is 
 easily identified. It is resistance to the 
 Spirit of God, carried to the extent of 
 willful hatred and determined rejection. 
 The heart of the impenitent can only 
 reach the condition necessary to the 
 final decision after repeated efforts, and 
 after habitual resistance to the Divine 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. T37 
 
 warnings and strivings. But as certainly- 
 
 as it is a fact that sin blinds the heart 
 and deadens the sensibilities, so certainly 
 incorrigibility is possible, and reprobacy 
 of mind becomes inevitable, placing the 
 abandoned one outside the sphere of 
 saving agencies. 
 
 If it be said that this interpretation, 
 which recognizes this terrible sin as 
 possible under the gospel, leaves the 
 way open for temptation to despond- 
 ency, to which so many are inclined 
 when they become anxious about their 
 souls, the answer is, that there is a bet- 
 ter way of dealing with such than de- 
 ceiving them with unsound expositions 
 of the Word of the Lord. We must not 
 handle the Word of God deceitfully; but 
 by manifestation of the truth, commend 
 ourselves to every man's conscience in 
 the sight of God. The fact that they 
 are anxious is proof positive that they 
 
138 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 are not abandoned of the Spirit. This 
 should be urged upon their attention, 
 and the evidences of his presence should 
 be so described as to overcom'e their fears 
 in this respect; and the Spirit of grace, 
 working in them, will melt and win them 
 to penitence. 
 
 The writings of the apostles contain 
 many recognitions of the possibility and 
 danger of incurring that degree of spirit- 
 ual blindness and obduracy in which re- 
 pentance is impossible. It is always 
 held forth as the result of willfulness in 
 resisting the light of truth, through the 
 love of evil indulgence: u If our gospel 
 be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, 
 in whom the god of this world hath 
 blinded the minds of them which be- 
 lieve not, lest the light of the glorious 
 gospel of Christ, who is the image of 
 God, should shine unto them." Paul 
 again recognizes this condition in these 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 139 
 
 strong words: "This I say, therefore, and 
 testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth 
 walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the 
 vanity of their minds, having the under- 
 standing darkened, being alienated from 
 the life of God through the ignorance 
 that is in them, because of the blind- 
 ness of their heart ; who, being past feel- 
 ing, have given themselves over unto 
 lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness 
 with greediness." Such language can 
 not be understood except as descriptive 
 of a moral degeneracy which excludes 
 the capacity for repentance, and denotes 
 the absence of gracious influences to the 
 extent of abandonment to reprobacy and 
 incorrigibility. That this state is sad 
 beyond description is true, and that its 
 possibility awakens in us emotions of 
 anxiety is not to be disputed ; yet the fact 
 that it so impresses us does not author- 
 ize any attempt to ignore it, or to soften 
 
I40 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 the import of the Divine teaching with 
 regard to it. The dreadfulness of sin 
 can not be too darkly pictured. God 
 hates sin, and he intends that its deso- 
 lating blight upon the human soul shall 
 be so portrayed that men shall be fully 
 warned, if they will only hear the truth. 
 It is a fact, not to be disregarded, that 
 in the blinding and hardening process 
 attributable to sin, Satan is always rec- 
 ognized as an active agent. He is the 
 "god of this world" that blinds the 
 minds of them that believe not. It is 
 he that catcheth away the word sown in 
 the heart. He is "the prince of the 
 power of the air, the spirit that worketh 
 in the children of disobedience.'' He 
 who comes in his likeness, doing his 
 work, deceiving and ensnaring men to 
 their ruin, comes " after the working of 
 Satan, with all power and signs and ly- 
 ing wonders, and all deceivableness of 
 
I'XPARDONABLE SIN. 141 
 
 unrighteousness in them that perish, 
 because they received not the love of 
 the truth that they might be saved. 
 For this cause God shall send them 
 strong delusion, that they should believe 
 a lie: that they all might be damned 
 who believed not the truth, but had 
 pleasure in unrighteousness. " The 
 moral disposition causing this aban- 
 donment of God, leaving men to the 
 delusion and condemnation of the devil, 
 is found in their unwillingness to " be- 
 lieve the truth, " and in their taking 
 " pleasure in unrighteousness. " God's 
 unchanging law of righteousness dooms 
 all such to this condemnation. When 
 the sinner stubbornly rejects the truth, 
 and takes pleasure in unrighteousness, 
 the Spirit of God leaves him to his own 
 way, and he is "led captive by the devil 
 at his will." This is not an arbitrary 
 act, nor a spiteful resentment, the out- 
 
142 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 growth of malignant passion, but the 
 inevitable result of resistance to the su- 
 preme law of holiness, justice, and love. 
 It may not be possible to identify the 
 act which drives away the Holy Ghost, 
 as perchance it may be the result of re- 
 peated and various acts of disobedience, 
 a climax of rebelliousness ; but the out- 
 come is incapacity for return to repent- 
 ance, and therefore the impossibility of 
 forgiveness. The sin is unpardonable 
 because of the deadness of the sensibili- 
 ties. The soul that is "past feeling" is 
 abandoned oi God. 
 
 BEARING ON ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 From this view we turn to study the 
 result of this abandonment and the 
 bearing of these Scriptures on the doc- 
 trine of eternal retribution. Negatively, 
 it is clear enough that if the sinner can 
 not be pardoned, he can not be saved. 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 43 
 
 Here we might stand, feeling perfectly 
 sure that the possibility of the eternal 
 punishment of the incorrigible is here 
 taught with irresistible force and clear- 
 ness; but justice is not done to the 
 cause, and can not be, till we consider 
 what is alleged on the other side, giving 
 full credit to all efforts to interpret these 
 passages in harmony with the doctrine 
 which denies the ultimate loss of any 
 soul. Something has been done in that 
 direction, displaying critical skill, and 
 great industry, and persistent purpose. 
 Indeed, the latter is so conspicuous that 
 its manifestation detracts from the force 
 of the criticisms employed and relied 
 upon in its defense. 
 
 It is needless to assume that those 
 who deny eternal punishment are apt to 
 adopt the definition of blasphemy against 
 the Holy Ghost, which makes it an im- 
 possibility under th<5 gospel dispensa- 
 
144 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 tion. But they are bound to go beyond 
 that, and get hold of a principle which 
 excludes the possibility of its having 
 ever been possible to any human being, 
 in any age of the world, or else show 
 that, having been committed, it is still 
 possible to secure its cancellation and 
 recovery from its power. This is a se- 
 rious undertaking, but not a few have 
 grappled with the problem with all the 
 earnestness that determined resolution 
 could inspire. Let us patiently study 
 their efforts. 
 
 In the first place, they call our atten- 
 tion to the word " world," in the phrases, 
 " Neither in this world, neither in the 
 world to come." We are reminded that 
 this word " world" is not kosmos y and 
 does not mean the globe on which we 
 live. This is a fact which we have no 
 occasion to dispute. The word is not 
 kosmos, but aion. It expresses duration, 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 45 
 
 and not the material creation. In the 
 next place, we are reminded that a large 
 number of orthodox as well as other ex- 
 positors render this word "age," and not 
 "world." Here again we agree. There 
 is not the slightest reason for disputing 
 this fact. The next step is to quote 
 some orthodox commentator, such as 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, showing that the pas- 
 sage might be rendered, without vio- 
 lence, "Neither in this age, neither in 
 the age to come." Many orthodox 
 writers agree to this, and we make no 
 contention against it; but still the issue 
 is not reached, and much less is the de- 
 cision of the issue in sight. We must 
 follow our friends yet another step. It 
 is then assumed that the phrase "this 
 age," means the Jewish age; and that 
 the phrase "the age to come," means 
 the Christian age, or the gospel dispen- 
 sation. This could also be admitted 
 
146 UNPARDONABLE SIN 
 
 without serious result to the issue ; but 
 fidelity to exact truth will not justify 
 the admission, and therefore we do not 
 make it. But for the purpose of the 
 present argument we proceed as if the 
 point were conceded. Let us look into 
 it, and see the outcome. 
 
 Here is a sin — a blasphemy — which 
 may be forgiven ; and here is another 
 sin — another blasphemy — -which may 
 not be forgiven. The contrast is clear 
 and sharp. The contention of our friends 
 is that both may be forgiven. The 
 burden of proof is upon them. Their 
 duty in the premises is clear; and we 
 credit them with the courage necessary 
 to the task. Their rendering is this: 
 "But whosoever speaketh against the 
 Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, 
 neither in this Jewish age, neither in the 
 gospel age yet to come." It is possible 
 that this looks less formidable, and per- 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 47 
 
 haps a little milder than the common 
 reading; but the question is, Does it 
 show any progress toward the proof that 
 this sin may be pardoned sometime? Of 
 course it obscures the matter a little; 
 but that is all. A sin committed under 
 the Jewish age that could not be par- 
 doned under that dispensation, nor yet 
 under the gospel, does not have much 
 prospect of forgiveness at any time. 
 And, then, that other sweeping nega- 
 tive, which has no dependence on the 
 word age, stands squarely across the 
 path of all the criticisms and obscura- 
 tions possible to our liberalistic friends : 
 "But the blasphemy against the Holy 
 Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." 
 It has the appearance of boldness, not 
 to say temerity, to look this declaration 
 squarely in the face, and then affirm a 
 doctrine which can not be true, unless 
 there be some way to evade the force of 
 
148 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 its natural meaning. Pushed to this ex- 
 tremity, our liberalistic friends tell us 
 that there is no special provision made 
 for the forgiveness of this sin either in 
 the Mosaic economy or in the gospel. 
 Of course we admit this ; but do not ac- 
 cept the statement as exhaustive of the 
 meaning of the words, nor do we see 
 wherein it relieves the system, w^hose 
 life depends upon the denial of the pos- 
 sibility of any unpardonable sin. If the 
 sin ever was committed by mortal man, 
 it must be forgiven some time, or some 
 one will be shut out of heaven forever. 
 It was not uncommon years ago for 
 our Universalist friends, in view of the 
 emergency this case brings them into, to 
 advance the thought that the final escape 
 from the consequence of this sin is in 
 the resurrection of the dead, and there- 
 fore not in the Jewish or Christian age. 
 But the idea of salvation from any sin in 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 49 
 
 the resurrection is not insisted on now 
 as formerly, for the reason that teachers 
 of this school have changed their views 
 of the resurrection itself, removing from 
 themselves the ground on which they 
 formerly builded their expectation of 
 moral changes through resurrection 
 power. They are compelled to recog- 
 nize the fact that whatever their notion 
 of the subjects, time, nature, or manner 
 of the resurrection, it must belong to the 
 gospel period, as it is indeed the crown- 
 ing act of the redeeming scheme — the 
 consummation of the kingdom of God. 
 It therefore follows that forgiveness in 
 the resurrection, if that might be af- 
 firmed, would still be forgiveness in the 
 world or "age to come," if not in this 
 age. To such straits are our friends 
 driven, and yet without the slightest 
 relief. 
 
 A desperate case necessitates desper- 
 
150 UNPARDONABLE SIN 
 
 ate resorts. So, in their extremity, liber- 
 alists have given ample proof of their 
 fertility in invention. Some have as- 
 sumed that this whole matter of blas- 
 phemy against the Holy Ghost is a na- 
 tional affair; that the Jews as a nation 
 rejected Christ, attributed his miracles 
 to the devil, and incurred the guilt of a 
 sin which could not be forgiven, but 
 must be punished to the extent of its 
 deserts; and that it was thus punished 
 in the calamities that befell that people 
 in the overthrow of their metropolis, the 
 subversion of their polity, the desolation 
 of their land, and their dispersion among 
 the nations of the earth. The national 
 sin and punishment of the Jews is a stu- 
 pendous fact, attesting in the presence of 
 nations and generations the truth of the 
 predictions of Christ in the Holy Gos- 
 pels; but the assumption that this blas- 
 phemy was a national sin is not only 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN 151 
 
 gratuitous, but preposterous, and incon- 
 sistent with the scope and language of 
 the passages in question. A* crime like 
 rebellion, or the general prevalence of 
 idolatry or unbelief or sensuality, might 
 become, as it often does, a national sin; 
 but here is plainly an individual sin, 
 while the whole tenor of the words 
 points to personal action and responsi- 
 bility. It is " whosoever." There is 
 nothing in all the connection to indicate 
 any other than personal conduct. The 
 sin is "blasphemy," speaking words 
 against the Son of man and against the 
 Holy Ghost. It is safe to say that the 
 idea of a national offense and national 
 punishment would never have been 
 thought of in connection with these 
 Scriptures, but for the predetermination 
 to avoid their testimony to the fact of 
 eternal punishment — a predetermination 
 induced by the control which a favorite 
 
152 UNPARDONABLE SIN. 
 
 notion often obtains over the judgment 
 and reason. 
 
 Thus every effort to interpret these 
 words of our Lord, without involving the 
 doctrine in question, becomes a mere sub- 
 terfuge, having no support in criticism 
 or sound exegesis. It is amazing that 
 intelligent people are misled by such 
 sophistries as appear in the endeavor to 
 escape the truth to which we are shut 
 up in these terrible words. Then, be- 
 yond the force of the unmistakable dec- 
 laration, "It shall not be forgiven him, 
 neither in this world, neither in the 
 world to come," there is that other still 
 stronger universal negative given in the 
 record by Mark: " But he that shall blas- 
 pheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
 never forgiveness." There is no way to 
 evade this language. In it there is noth- 
 ing equivocal, nothing ambiguous, noth- 
 ing obscure. It stands as an impreg- 
 
UNPARDONABLE SIN. 1 53 
 
 nable wall across the path of every one 
 who attempts escape. Its assertion must 
 be admitted or denied; for it can neither 
 be misunderstood nor distorted.. "Hath 
 never forgiveness " covers all worlds, all 
 "ages," all dispensations and kingdoms, 
 and all possible duration. "Hath never 
 forgiveness!" These are the words of 
 Jesus Christ — words of warning and 
 pity welling from a heart of tenderness, 
 the everlasting refutation of all doctrines 
 that promise forgiveness to the impeni- 
 tent, or salvation to the incorrigible. 
 
III. 
 
 The Duration of Punishment. 
 
 " Is in danger of eternal damnation." — mark ill, 29. 
 " Is guilty of an eternal sin. 5 '— revised version, 
 
 WE follow the study of the unpar- 
 donable sin with a brief glance at 
 the Scriptural authority for the doctrine 
 of eternal punishment. Without any 
 purpose to make the argument general 
 or exhaustive, or to cover other ground 
 than that indicated by the Scriptures 
 already before us, we desire to weigh 
 the terms expressive of duration, and 
 candidly examine their import. 
 
 Since these Scriptures declare with 
 certain voice that there is "an eternal 
 sin," and that because it is unforgivable 
 it is necessarily eternal, and its condem- 
 ns 
 
156 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 nation eternal; and since in our day 
 many have been induced, by one pretext 
 or another, to become doubtful or con- 
 fused with regard to this doctrine; and 
 since there is in the Churches an unac- 
 • countable trend towards loosening the 
 lines of rigid teaching on this subject, — 
 it seems well, and necessary indeed, for 
 some one to recall attention, if possible, 
 to the language of the Divine Teacher, 
 and to the actual significance of his 
 words touching the final condition of 
 those who reject him. We do this, we 
 trust, in the spirit that moved him to 
 utter these strong words, remembering 
 that the voice of warning is the most 
 appropriate expression of love where 
 danger threatens. 
 
 Of late years the literature of the 
 Churches contains but little on this sub- 
 ject, leaving those who are just receiving 
 their education in such matters very 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 57 
 
 largely to the influence of the bold and 
 unchallenged statements of those whose 
 teachings are unsound and misleading. 
 It is painful to realize the lack of infor- 
 mation existing among young Christians 
 on these weighty questions which divide 
 between the evangelical and the liber- 
 alistic Churches of this country. A half, 
 or even a third of a century ago, things 
 were different in this regard. More at- 
 tention was given to doctrines, and espe- 
 cially to the great doctrines which under- 
 lie the denominations, and distinguish 
 them one from another. A prejudice 
 against doctrines, or against their incul- 
 cation, has grown up, which bodes no 
 good to the cause of truth ; and particu- 
 larly is this true with regard to those 
 sterner teachings of our faith which por- 
 tray the evils of sin, the power of the 
 devil, the depravity of man, and the des- 
 tiny of the wicked. The result is, that 
 
158 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 the average congregation, in our cities 
 especially, can be filled with heresy from 
 the pulpit without suspecting it, if only 
 the discourse be clothed in attractive 
 garb and take on an ethical pretentious- 
 ness. The exigency demands that the doc- 
 trine of eternal retribution be again set 
 forth as it appears in the Holy Scriptures. 
 In these Scriptures relating to the 
 sin of blasphemy, the assertion is that 
 the incorrigible shall be " in danger of 
 eternal damnation." The language is 
 plain and vigorous, and emphasized by 
 the fact that it describes the result of 
 sin which "hath never forgiveness. " As 
 honest students of the Word, we are 
 bound to face the strongest language 
 without bias, and to seek its proper 
 meaning with an unswerving purpose to 
 accept it as authoritative, regardless of 
 any personal preferences we may possess. 
 These two phrases belong together, and 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 59 
 
 should be studied together: "Hath 
 never forgiveness, " " Shall be in danger 
 of eternal damnation. " We grant that 
 this old English word " damnation," is 
 simply the equivalent of condemnation ; 
 but the meaning is not changed. " Eter- 
 nal condemnation" may have a milder 
 sound to some ears, and may be preferred 
 on that account, without any softening 
 of the dreadful reality expressed. Who- 
 soever has committed the sin which 
 "hath never forgiveness," is necessarily 
 doomed to " eternal condemnation." 
 
 Just here we are reminded that in the 
 New Version this word " condemnation " 
 does not appear. The revisers recogniz- 
 ing another Greek text, in place of the 
 phrase, " Shall be in danger of eternal 
 damnation," give us as the better render- 
 ing, "Sliall be guilty of an eternal sin." 
 Accepting this rendering, its bearing on 
 the doctrine in question becomes a mat- 
 
160 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 ter of interest. To be "guilty of an eter- 
 nal sin " is a serious something. It is a 
 guilt which abides, which is never re- 
 moved, which " hath never forgiveness," 
 No mitigation is found in this reading. 
 The doctrine is not modified in the least 
 degree. Our ears are not yet familiar 
 with the sound of these words ; but there 
 must be such a thing as an " eternal sin." 
 Not that the act is forever in process 
 without being completed ; nor yet that 
 the sin is being forever repeated, mak- 
 ing an infinite series of transgressions; 
 but the sin once committed is a fact for 
 eternity, and the guilt once upon the 
 soul remains uncanceled, unforgiven, un- 
 expiated. The condemnation of this 
 sin is an "eternal condemnation." 
 
 THE TWO GREEK WORDS. 
 This brings us to the study of the 
 words rendered " eternal." Around these 
 words has gathered the smoke of battle 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT, l6l 
 
 for generations. Here the enemies of 
 the doctrine of eternal punishment have 
 massed their forces ; here they have dis- 
 played their longest lines and their heav- 
 iest arms, and in the presence of this 
 strong orthodox citadel, which has never 
 been captured, they have assumed the 
 airs of victors, and persuaded themselves 
 that they were in possession, when they 
 have neither passed a trench, nor taken 
 a redoubt. As an invincible stronghold, 
 unmoved in her quiet security, this old 
 fortress sends forth an occasional shot 
 from her ramparts into the camp of her 
 enemies to assure them that she is still 
 impregnable. 
 
 It is needless to retrace the literature 
 of this old controversy, and yet the most 
 that can now be said has been said be- 
 fore. Our aim shall, therefore, be at 
 clearness and directness, rather than at 
 
 novelty or originality. 
 ii 
 
1 62 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 The two Greek words, aion and aidnios, 
 are the words in dispute. The latter is 
 a derivative of the former, and, so far as 
 duration is concerned, both express ex- 
 actly the same thing. They are, there- 
 fore, to be treated as different forms of 
 the same word. All concede that they 
 express duration; but the dispute is as 
 to whether they express limited or un- 
 limited duration. Our contention is that 
 they express unlimited duration, and that 
 they are the best words in the Greek 
 language to express an endless condition, 
 whether that condition be good or bad. 
 Because of the great amount of effort 
 that has been made to disprove this 
 position, more of detail in analysis and 
 illustration will be allowable than would 
 be necessary under other circumstances. 
 
 Much has been said about the primary 
 and secondary meaning of these words. 
 What we want to get at is their proper 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 63 
 
 meaning as used in the New Testament, 
 and especially as they occur in connec- 
 tion with punishment. That they are 
 used in connection with the punishment 
 of the wicked, is a fact not to be disputed; 
 but the question is as to their meaning 
 when so used, and as to whether they 
 are to be taken in their primary and lit- 
 eral signification, or in a secondary or 
 figurative sense. The particular phases 
 of the issue will appear as we proceed. 
 
 The word axon is composed of two 
 words, aei, ever; and on, being; literally, 
 ever being. In order to see its force, as 
 a word expressive of duration, we will 
 glance briefly at the use of aez\ when 
 it occurs alone or uncompounded. A 
 few instances will suffice. "And the 
 multitude crying aloud, began to desire 
 him to do as he had ever — aei — done 
 unto them." (Mark xv, 8.) "Ye stiff- 
 necked and uncircumcised in heart and 
 
164 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 ears, ye do always — aei — resist the Holy 
 Ghost." (Acts vii, 51.) "For we which 
 live are always — aei — delivered unto 
 death." (2 Cor. iv, 11.) " Wherefore I 
 was grieved with this generation, and 
 said they do always — aei — err in their 
 heart." (Heb. iii, 10.) " The Cretians 
 are always — aei — liars." (Titus 1, 12.) 
 " But sanctify the Lord God in your 
 hearts, and be ready always — aei — to 
 give an answer to every man that asketh 
 you a reason of the hope that is in you." 
 (1 Peter iii, 15.) "Wherefore I will not 
 be negligent to put you always in re- 
 membrance of these things." (2 Peter 
 1,12.) In all these places, and in many 
 more, this word aei is used in the sense 
 of always or continually, expressing un- 
 interruptedness of existence or of habit. 
 The lexicons define it "always, ever, 
 aye ; uninterruptedly, continually, per- 
 petually." Donegan applies it to the 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 65 
 
 circumstance of magistrates succeeding 
 one another in uninterrupted succession. 
 The conclusion is, therefore, irresistible, 
 that when joined with the word on, or 
 being, it denotes uninterrupted, and 
 therefore ceaseless, duration. This is 
 its first and most literal meaning, the 
 sense it always conveys, except when 
 used in an accommodated way, as when 
 applied to things which are by their 
 nature limited as to duration. Even 
 then the limiting circumstance is not in 
 the word, but in the nature of the thing 
 to which it is applied. It expresses the 
 entire duration of " the everlasting hills. " 
 It is conceded on all sides that this 
 word is often used to convey the idea of 
 endless duration, and used for that pur- 
 pose when the scope of the thought 
 would demand the employment of the 
 strongest and most unequivocal word in 
 the language to express the thought. 
 
1 66 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 This is certainly true when the design 
 is to express the duration of the being 
 and perfections of God, the throne and 
 dominion of Jesus Christ, and the hap- 
 piness of the saints in heaven. If the 
 language contained a word that would 
 more strongly or more certainly con- 
 vey the idea of endless duration than 
 this word does, it would have been 
 used w r hen these glorious things of eter- 
 nity were described as to their duration ; 
 but this word, and no other, was used 
 for this purpose, and used continually in 
 such relations. This tremendous fact 
 ought to be decisive as to the meaning 
 of the word, and it is decisive, whether 
 those having a doctrine to maintain 
 which will not bear the admission, agree 
 to it or not. Nor can it be that the 
 word is used in an accommodated or 
 secondary sense for this high purpose. 
 If there is a truth in the universe worthy 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 167 
 
 of declaration definitely, unequivocally, 
 and in language incapable of being mis- 
 understood, it is the truth which relates 
 to the eternity of God, and the endless- 
 ness of heaven. It can not be that such 
 truth is revealed only in words used in 
 an accommodated, metaphorical, or sec- 
 ondary sense. 
 
 It is not disputed that words are 
 sometimes used in a secondary or ac- 
 commodated sense ; but this fact does 
 not authorize arbitrary juggling. The 
 accommodated use of words must have 
 some law and some limitation. Words 
 which properly express unlimited dura- 
 tion may be accommodated to the ex- 
 pression of limited time, where the 
 limit is apparent, or where the limiting 
 circumstance is known ; but it is not 
 possible to make a word expressive of 
 definite or limited time, express more 
 than it contains in its literal or proper 
 
1 68 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 signification. A year can not be used 
 to mean a century; nor can the word 
 century be extended to mean a millen- 
 nium. The greater contains the less, 
 but the less does not contain the greater. 
 A part does not contain the whole. 
 Time does not contain eternity. So a 
 word for limited time can not express un- 
 limited duration. When a word whose 
 proper meaning is endless duration is 
 applied to things of earth or things that 
 perish, it is necessarily used in an ac- 
 commodated sense, the limiting circum- 
 stance being in the nature of the thing 
 that can not endure forever. It is plain, 
 therefore, that the word which expresses 
 the endless duration of God and his 
 throne, must contain the idea of end- 
 less duration as its primary and literal 
 meaning. This is our contention ; but 
 those who deny the eternity of punish- 
 ment, contend that the word in question 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 69 
 
 means only limited time, properly, and 
 that it is used to express the eternity of 
 God's throne and kingdom in a sec- 
 ondary or accommodated sense. They 
 hold that it expresses more than it con- 
 tains ; that its meaning is expanded ; 
 that in some mysterious way this word 
 leaps beyond itself to express the end- 
 lessness of the kingdom of glory, while 
 it shrivels into imperative limitations 
 when applied to the condemnation of 
 sin, which "hath never forgiveness. " 
 
 Finding, then, as we do, both from its 
 composition and its use, that this word 
 literally means endless duration, and is 
 properly rendered " everlasting' ' and 
 "eternal," the question arises, and is 
 easily answered, as to whether it must 
 be taken in its primary, literal sense, 
 when it is employed in connection with 
 punishment to express its duration. 
 The answer is, All words are to be un- 
 
170 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 derstood in their literal or primary sense, 
 unless there is something in their use to 
 clearly indicate the contrary. This word, 
 aionion, literally means " everlasting," 
 and it is used to express the duration 
 of punishment again and again, in the 
 Scriptures, and always without any no- 
 tice or intimation of a figurative, accom- 
 modated, or secondary use, and it is so 
 used that there can be no limiting cir- 
 cumstance, unless it be found in the 
 nature of the thing to which it is applied. 
 It is applied to punishment, and unless 
 there is something in the nature of pun- 
 ishment that limits its duration, it must 
 mean endless punishment. 
 
 Will our friends of the opposition con- 
 tend that there is somewhat in the 
 nature of punishment that limits it to 
 temporary duration? It is not sufficient 
 to insist that the design of punishment 
 implies its limitation; for the design of 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 171 
 
 punishment is not now in the account. 
 To bring it in at this point is to assume 
 the point in dispute. It is to beg the 
 question. We affirm nothing in this 
 contention with regard to the nature or 
 the design of punishment. The simple 
 issue is as to its duration, its endlessness, 
 its finality. The word " everlasting" 
 expresses it. It is everlasting unless it 
 is limited in its own nature. Then 
 the limitation is not in the word, but 
 in the nature of the punishment. 
 There is nothing in the nature of pun- 
 ishment that can limit it as to dura- 
 tion, unless it be in the nature of the 
 subject of the punishment ; that is, in 
 the sinner condemned to the punish- 
 ment. If the immortality of the sinner 
 should fail, and the moral ruin wrought 
 within him destroy sensibility and con- 
 sciousness, that might modify the pun- 
 ishment in its nature and result, but it 
 
I J2 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 would neither terminate the condemna- 
 tory sentence nor reverse it. The "con- 
 demnation M would still be "eternal." 
 In this sense the punishment would be 
 unending, and the word " everlasting " 
 would express it literally and properly. 
 Whenever the word aion is construed 
 with the preposition eis, especially in 
 New Testament Greek, it invariably sig- 
 nifies endless duration. This statement 
 is so certainly correct that there is not the 
 slightest danger of contradiction ; and 
 yet it means much in this discussion. 
 Xot that the preposition adds to the 
 duration expressed by the word itself, 
 for that is impossible ; but it marks its 
 application, and denotes that it is to be 
 taken in its full and proper sense. It 
 is used in this way about sixty times in 
 the Xew Testament. In fifty-four places 
 it undeniably expresses endless duration. 
 In the remaining six places its applica- 
 
D URA TION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 7 3 
 
 tion is to punishment, and no sign 
 appears that it is not used in its uni- 
 form signification. Now, if in fifty-four 
 instances this word is used in this way 
 in the sense of endless duration, is it 
 not reasonable to assume that it bears 
 the same import in the other six places, 
 seeing there is no limiting word or cir- 
 cumstance to forbid it? The phrase 
 eis tons aidnas ton aionion, commonly 
 rendered " for ever and ever," occurs 
 eighteen times in the New Testament. 
 In fifteen instances it expresses the con- 
 tinuance of the glory, perfection, gov- 
 ernment, and praise of God. The idea 
 of endlessness is its burden in all these 
 places. In one of the remaining in- 
 stances it is applied to the righteous 
 in the future world, who shall reign 
 " for ever and ever." In the other two 
 instances it is applied to punishment. 
 Of a class of impenitent sinners it is 
 
174 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 said that " the smoke of their torment 
 ascendeth up for ever and ever." In 
 the remaining passage it is said of the 
 devil, the beast, and the false prophet, 
 that " they shall be tormented day and 
 night for ever and ever." Conceding 
 that there is figurative language in these 
 Scriptures, and that the symbolism of 
 this book is not easily understood, the 
 fact still stands that the phraseology 
 is that which expresses endlessness. 
 Whatever the import of the symbols, 
 the words bear their proper meaning, 
 and represent a state of endless perdi- 
 tion. Then we ask again, Is it reason- 
 able to suppose that the Spirit of God 
 would inspire his servant to use this 
 phrase sixteen times to denote a dura- 
 tion absolutely endless, and twice to 
 denote something absolutely different, 
 without the slightest indication of a 
 different import? 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT, 1 75 
 
 The derivative, aionios, is used sev- 
 enty-one times in the New Testament. 
 Five times it expresses the duration of 
 punishment. In all the other instances 
 it unquestionably denotes endless dura- 
 tion. In some places the contrast is 
 made between the final condition of the 
 righteous and the wicked, and this word 
 is so employed to express the duration 
 of the condition of both classes, that if 
 there were any difference in the dura- 
 tion, common honesty would demand 
 that it be intimated, and without the 
 intimation deception would certainly be 
 the result. Then the question recurs, 
 Is it not reasonable to conclude that the 
 word bears the same meaning in the 
 five instances in which it applies to 
 punishment that it does in the sixty-six 
 instances? If so, the endlessness of 
 future punishment is taught in the 
 Holy Scriptures beyond the shadow of 
 
176 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 a doubt. The words expressive of du- 
 ration, applied again and again to the 
 ultimate outcome of a life of sin, cover 
 all possible existence in the everlasting 
 state. 
 
 We sum up as follows: 1. The radical 
 import of aion and of aionion is unlim- 
 ited duration. 2. It is a correct rule that 
 these words, as all words, should be 
 understood in their proper, radical, or 
 primary sense, except where there is 
 some word or circumstance which clearly 
 limits their meaning. 3. Words express- 
 ive of duration may be restricted in their 
 application to less than their literal and 
 primitive import, but they can not be 
 enlarged so as to express more than they 
 contain. 4. When the preposition ets 
 stands with aion, that word is never used 
 in a limited sense ; and it is thus found 
 in connection with future punishment. 
 5. There is nothing in the nature of 
 
DURATIOJ\ OF PUNISHMENT. 1 77 
 
 punishment to restrict the meaning of 
 the word, or to prevent it from having 
 its proper sense, unless the subject of 
 the punishment should drop out of be- 
 ing, in which event the judgment decree 
 or sentence to eternal punishment would 
 not be reversed. The irreversible doom 
 of the sinner would be effectual, and the 
 word expressive of unlimited duration 
 would have appropriate use. 
 
 OTHER WORDS. 
 
 The position above summarized will 
 be confirmed if it be seen to be impos- 
 sible to find another word in the Greek 
 that will so well express the idea of un- 
 limited duration. In their stress of 
 anxiety to make a point against the 
 doctrine of eternal retribution, its op- 
 ponents sometimes urge an inquiry like 
 this: If God intended the doctrine of 
 eternal punishment to be believed, why 
 
178 9 URA TION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 is it not set forth in unambiguous lan- 
 guage — in the use of words which so 
 clearly express the idea of endless dura- 
 tion that their meaning can not be mis- 
 understood? This implies that the 
 terms in which this doctrine is taught 
 in the Scriptures, the words already con- 
 sidered, are ambiguous, which we deny, 
 and have shown to be untrue; and it 
 also implies that there were other words 
 in the language that might have been 
 employed, that were less ambiguous, and 
 better calculated to express clearly and 
 forcefully the idea of endless duration. 
 So important has this been deemed that 
 serious efforts have been made to estab- 
 lish the proposition. The words claimed 
 as expressing endless duration better 
 than those employed for that purpose 
 have been specified, which, of course, is 
 the only way of testing the matter, and 
 we must therefore look at the words in- 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 79 
 
 dicated, and weigh the claim set up for 
 them. 
 
 The claim that other words express 
 endless duration better than aion and 
 aionion is a reflection on the wisdom of 
 the sacred writers ; for there is no doubt 
 that, when they wrote of the duration of 
 the kingdom and glory of God, they de- 
 sired to express themselves clearly, and 
 did the best they knew how to give ex- 
 pression and emphasis to the thought. 
 But if they passed by words better 
 adapted to their purpose, and chose 
 words of ambiguous and uncertain im- 
 port, they did it ignorantly, or carelessly, 
 or with purpose to be obscure. What- 
 ever view one takes of the matter, if the 
 facts be as alleged, either the wisdom 
 or the honesty of these writers is im- 
 peached. 
 
 It will appear on examination that 
 the words specified by the opposition, in 
 
180 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 behalf of which this claim is made, do 
 not express duration at all directly, but 
 only imply it ; so that, at best, their im- 
 plication of duration is only a conse- 
 quential idea, not contained in the words 
 at all. They express the quality of sub- 
 stances, or the nature of things or offices, 
 and have only an incidental relation to 
 duration. Two of these words relate to 
 the resurrection-body, and express its in- 
 corruptibility and immortality, thereby 
 implying continued existence ; but they 
 do not mention or relate to duration. 
 These are aphtharsia, incorruption ; 
 and athanasia, immortality. It is sim- 
 ply ridiculous to hold that these express 
 endless duration at all, and much more 
 so to insist that they do it better than 
 the words chosen by the inspired writers 
 for that purpose. In the same interest, 
 amarantos is sometimes mentioned. It 
 is of the same class as the two just con- 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. l8l 
 
 sidered. It expresses the quality of 
 things, and not duration; meaning un- 
 fading, as where the inheritance is de- 
 scribed by Peter as " incorruptible, unde- 
 filed, and that fadeth not away" It was 
 never designed to express duration, is 
 not adapted to that end, and it is absurd 
 to mention it in that connection. 
 
 There are yet two other words for 
 which this claim is made, to which we 
 must give a little more attention. The 
 first is akatalutos, which is translated 
 endless. It occurs in Hebrews vii, 16: 
 "Who is made, not after the law of a 
 carnal commandment, but after the 
 power of an endless life." The life 
 mentioned is that which pertained to 
 our Lord's priesthood, and stands op- 
 posed to the individual tenure of office 
 under the law of succession in the 
 Aaronic priesthood, wherein men were 
 not permitted to continue by reason of 
 
1 82 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 death. No high priest could remain 
 throughout the dispensation. The word 
 is compounded of #, negative, and kata- 
 louo, to dissolve, and means, literally, 
 indissoluble. Katalouo is from kata, 
 down, and luo^ to loose, and is defined 
 in the lexicons, "To unloose, loosen, 
 dissolve; to demolish, destroy, over- 
 throw; cancel, annul, abrogate; depose, 
 desist from, lay down office." The 
 priests, under the law, were compelled 
 to lay down office, to dissolve connec- 
 tion with it, because of death; but when 
 Christ entered upon his priestly duties, 
 he possessed a life that was indissoluble, 
 and therefore he continues in the priest- 
 hood throughout the dispensation. His 
 life is endless, in fact; but the word here 
 rendered endless relates to its perma- 
 nency, and only consequentially to its 
 duration. It is easily seen that duration 
 is not its meaning;. It is endless because 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT, 1 83 
 
 it can not be dissolved; and the word ex- 
 presses its indissolubility directly, and 
 suggests duration secondarily. The in- 
 dissolubility of Christ's tenure of the 
 priestly office is the great thought. It 
 would be exceedingly inappropriate to 
 use this word where the simple idea of 
 duration was to be expressed; and our 
 Lord and his apostles are not chargeable 
 with incompetency for not preferring it 
 when they wished to express endless 
 duration. 
 
 The next word to which our attention 
 is called is found in Heb. x, 12: "But 
 this man, after he had offered one sacri- 
 fice for sins, forever sat down on the 
 right hand of God." The word here 
 rendered forever is dienekes, the neuter 
 of dienekes, which is from dia ) through, 
 and enekes, extensive; and is rendered 
 " continuous, uninterrupted, constant, 
 perpetual; lasting, durable, extended; a 
 
1 84 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 state of uninterrupted protraction." It 
 is therefore properly enough translated 
 " forever" in the place where it is found, 
 having reference to the fact that Christ 
 so completely atoned for sin by his one 
 sacrifice that his work will never have to 
 be repeated. Although he continues in 
 the office of high priest, making inter- 
 cession for the Church, there will be no 
 occasion for another sin-offering. " For 
 by one offering he hath perfected — 
 dienekes — perpetually, or forever, them 
 that are sanctified." The radical idea of 
 this word is uninterruptedness. It ap- 
 plies to something uniform — steady, per- 
 sistent, perpetual; so that it has an ele- 
 ment of finality in it, and requires dura- 
 tion as an auxiliary, or secondary idea; 
 but that it expresses duration as its rad- 
 ical import is far from the truth. It is 
 not defined by lexicographers as is 
 aidnion — everlasting, eternal, endless ; 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1S5 
 
 nor is it recognized as containing the 
 time-element, expressing duration as its 
 proper meaning. Neither is it employed 
 to express the duration of the perfec- 
 tions, kingdom, glory, or praise of God; 
 nor the endless life and blessedness of 
 the righteous. If it were, in fact, better 
 adapted to convey the idea of endless 
 duration than aion or aionion, it is 
 scarcely conceivable that it would have 
 been omitted when the sacred writers 
 wanted to express that idea in the clear- 
 est possible way. 
 
 We have a right to be amazed at the 
 temerity of our friends of the opposi- 
 tion. They hold that the fact that this 
 word is not used in the Scriptures to 
 express the duration of punishment is 
 an argument against the eternity or 
 finality of punishment ; but they do not 
 see any argument against the eternity 
 of the happiness of the saints in heaven 
 
1 86 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 in the fact that it is never used to ex- 
 press the duration of that happiness. 
 The truth is, not one of these words is 
 the proper word for endless duration; 
 and that accounts for the fact that 
 neither of them is used to express the 
 eternity of the happiness of the saved, 
 the punishment of the wicked, nor the 
 perfections of the Deity. It is the mad- 
 ness of folly to try to fix upon either of 
 these words — Scripture words as they 
 are — the meaning that Scriptural usage 
 and all the authorities fix upon aion and 
 aidnios. This is what the opposers of 
 the doctrine of eternal punishment are 
 doing, under the pressure, no doubt, of 
 an emergency which is keenly felt; and 
 their effort to deprive the words which 
 do express endless duration, of their 
 proper significance, is a failure suffi- 
 ciently conspicuous to reveal the folly 
 of the undertaking. 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 87 
 
 We turn away from this discussion, 
 which is but fairly opened, because of 
 limitations imposed upon this writing 
 which we must observe. The subject 
 is great, worthy of thorough treatment, 
 and the material is abundant. The ap- 
 plication of the principles above set 
 forth to the Scriptures, in which the 
 terms occur, would be an interesting 
 exercise, and would in every instance 
 confirm the positions taken, and bring 
 the doctrine maintained into the light 
 of Scriptural demonstration; but we 
 leave that to the reader, believing that 
 every one capable of comprehending 
 the argument, can use these principles 
 in the solution of all the problems aris- 
 ing from the particular passages bearing 
 on the subject. The ethical aspects of 
 the doctrine have not been brought in 
 for lack of space, and for the reason that 
 our sole purpose was to present the 
 
1 88 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT, 
 
 foundation in the terms which the 
 Scriptures use, and to guard against the 
 glosses of the opposition. It will be ob- 
 served, also, that w T e have strenuously 
 avoided considering all questions relat- 
 ing to the nature or results of future 
 punishment. There is a constant tend- 
 ency in the minds of most people to 
 drift from the simple point of the proof 
 of duration to the place, agencies, nature, 
 and effects of the eternal retribution so 
 surely taught in the Scriptures. Most 
 of these incidental studies must be 
 largely conjectural, since revelation does 
 not deal with them, and the diversion of 
 the mind to their consideration obscures 
 the main issue, and distracts thought 
 when it needs concentration. 
 
 There is, of course, a very natural in- 
 terest felt in all these matters ; and, after 
 the foundation is firmly established in 
 the irrefragable proofs of the fact and 
 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 1 89 
 
 duration of future punishment, it is 
 well to gather all the light available 
 with reference to the Divine methods 
 and purpose in punishment, the provis- 
 ion made for it, and the outcome in the 
 effect it may have on individuals and on 
 the moral universe. Some questions 
 w T ill arise in such an investigation that 
 must both puzzle and perplex our rea- 
 son, because the factors necessary to the 
 satisfactory answer are not furnished in 
 the Scriptures, and can not be found in 
 any philosophy within our reach. In 
 such conditions wisdom dictates the 
 recognition of the limitations of the 
 finite understanding, and suggests that 
 duty requires contentment with " those 
 things which are revealed, " so long as 
 in our pupilage "we know in part," and 
 u see through a glass darkly." If an 
 understanding of the nature and results 
 of eternal punishment had been neces- 
 
I go DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 
 
 sary to our warning or edification, these 
 things would probably have been made 
 as clear to us as is the fact itself. With 
 us the great thing is the fact. The 
 final decree of judgment consigns the 
 devil and his angels, and all the un- 
 godly of our race, to a perdition out of 
 which there is no redemption. This 
 is their " everlasting punishment." 
 Whether in the oncoming ages their 
 sensibilities remain keenly alive, or 
 deaden into unconsciousness, their doom 
 is alike irreversible. Beyond the realm 
 of light and grace their abode is " outer 
 darkness." Where the Judge Eternal 
 places them, we must leave them. 
 
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