not who have worshipped ;---have no rest, not shall have no rest; and all this, during the alternation of day and night! In chap. 13: we learn, that" power was given unto him [the beast worshipped] to continue FORTY AND TWO MONTHS!"

But who are the worshippers? See chap. 13, 16, 17. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Let him that readeth understand.

The other passage to which I presume you refer, is Rev. 20: 10.

"And the devil that deceiveth them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Here again is the succession of day and night, connected with eis tous aionas ton aionon, or for ever and ever. If forty-two prophetic months, signify endless duration, and if day and night are to succeed each the other in a resurrection state, you have merely to exhibit proof of these facts, and your arguments will be invincible.

Believing the case too plain to require a protracted argument, permit me now to inquire, if the positive certainty attached to this phrase is as sixteen to nothing or whether your attempt to support a forlorn argument is as 0 to 16?

To exhibit the cataclysm of absurdities which flow from your premises, an abstract of a sermon by Rev. J. S. Thompson is inserted below. The reader who considers the subject worthy of examination, will easily turn to the passages to which he is referred, and satisfy himself of the correctness of Mr. T's observations.

"As I have adopted the term aionion instead of everlasting, some explanation may be necessary. It is derived from the noun aion, which Phavorinus says,、 signifies "he zoe kai ho bios, life, or to metron, tes anthropines zoes," the measure or length of human life. The word age is the most appropriate in the English language to express the signification of the Greek aion.---Thus we speak of the age of a child, the age of a man, the Antediluvian age, the Patriarchal, age, the Christian age, and the age of the world. In all these examples, we find the term age varied, and the extent of its duration known only by the qualifying words or phrases with which it is connected; for by the above examples the word age may indefinitely denote a period of one year, fifty years, two thousand years, or five thousand years, as the sense may require. The Hebrew olam, translated aion in the Septuagint,, and correctly rendered into English by our translators only once, Ephes. 3: 7, by the word age, signifies` a concealed or unknown period of time, whose duration, like the terms aion and age, can only be measured by the subject to which it is applied. The Hebrew slave who stipulated to serve his master, Hebrew, od olam,. Septuagint, eis aiona, English, for ever, Ex. 21: 6, Deut. 15: 17, did not thereby agree to serve for any definite period of time; for the duration of his servitude entirely depended on the following circumstances. 1. His own death. 2. The death of his master. The return of the Jubilee. Whichever of these occurred first, dissolved the agreement, and effected the termination of that indefinite period indicated by the phrase ad olam, or eis aiona, for ever. Accordingly, the same phrase is translated forever, all the days of his life, as long as he liveth, 1 Sam. 1: 11, 22, 28.. Hence we see the Hebrew ad olam, the Greek eis aiona, and English forever, or everlasting, expressive of the duration of the Hebrew's servitude; or Sam-

3.

uel's life might have indicated the period of one week, three days, as in Jonah 2: 6, or one year, but could not exceed the time of 48 years; for every 49th year brought again the return of jubilee. Who then can urge the argument for endless misery from the term aion, as implying endless duration;-whilst the very highest classical authority limits the term to the length of human life. Isocrates and Zenophon say, ton aiona diagein, to pass the time of life. Teleutesai ton aiona, in Herodotus and Sophocles, signifies, to end life, or die. Homer uses aion, frequently, as the synomime of zoe, life, Il. 4. 478, Il. 5. 685, and Il. 16. 458. And sometimes for the period of a short life lost in battle. Ho nun aion, in the scriptures, always signifies the present life. See Whitby on Eph. 2. 2, 2 Tim. 4. 10; Mark 10, 30. Surely if the word aion imply endless duration, Christ and his apostles must have been very ignorant of its meaning; for he tells them the harvest, or founding of the christian church, is the END of the aion. Mat. 13. 39. Lo I am with you till the end of the aion. Mat. 28. 20. And they ask him what shall be the sign of the end of the world (aion,) Mat. 24. 3. Moreover, the writers of the New Testament speak of a time before the aions began. 1 Cor. 2. 7. The beginning of the aions, Ephs. 3, 9; Col. 1: 26; of aions past, and aions to come, Col. 1. 26; Ephes. 2. 7; of a period which shall last through the aion of aions, Eph. 3. 21; of a time after the aions shall be ended, and of a period hyperbolically exceeding æonian, 2 Cor. 4. 17; and lastly, of the formation, or constitution of the aions, Heb. 1. 2. Do our doctors know these things? If not, are they not shamefully ignorant? If they do, ought not their efforts to impose on the credulous induce us to beware of them in time to come? Felix quem aliena pericula

cautem."

But, however obvious it may be, that your proposition is utterly at fault, let us try its strength on the declaration found in Isa. 57. 15.

"For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made."

That this applies to the subject of punishment is seen by the context, which refers to the stiff-necked and rebellious house of Israel.

"For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, and smote him; I hid me and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.' 99

But these few examples of difformity in the use of these words are probably sufficient for the present opportunity. Your attention is now called to the words already noticed, brought to confront your ipse dixit. I am no Agonistes-but this appeal is confidently made to every Greek scholar, for the truth of my declaration. The appeal is public, and testimony is at hand for the redemption of my pledge. I have only to say— audi alteram partem.

The words to which I allude are the following, with their definitions. If they be not conclusive on the subject, society may be much enlightened by showing where they are as vaguely used as the words under review.

Luke 18. 1.

1 Cor. 9. 25. 2 Tim. 1. 10.

Pantote always, perpetually.
Aphthartos, immortal, indissoluble.
Aphtharsia, immortality.

Heb. 7. 16. Akatalutos, endless, indissoluble.

Every well informed man knows, and every candid man will acknowledge, that the practical use of a word

is a more certain criterion of its value, than a knowl-. edge of its etymology. Hence the concessions which you and others are compelled to make concerning the words under consideration. To say that these words are improperly used in sacred writ, affords not the least possible assistance to the subject, nor can it in any way affect the argument, further than to demonstrate the verity of these criticisms. If, as you acknowledge, they are indefinitely used, their mere use can neither maintain nor destroy any sentiment, for proof requires precision. To determine otherwise, would destroy all distinction in the import of words, tend to utter confusion in society, and, if continued to its ultimate consequence, must result in the darkest barbarism. That common readers may duly appreciate your claim to consistency, a few places are noticed in which aion is improperly translated world. In Mat. 12. 32. 13. 22, 39, 40, 49. 24. 3. 27. 20. Mark 4. 19. Luke 1. 70. 16. 8. 20. 34. John 9. 32. Acts 3. 21. 15. 18. Rom. 12. 2. 2. 6, 6. 3. 18. 8. 13. 10. 2. Eph. 6. 12. 1 Tim. 6. 17. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 4. 10, and in a number of instances, besides those heretofore noticed, the word aion is rendered world; with what propriety it is thus translated, in preference to age, let those who read, judge. It may be sufficient here to state, that Beza, in his Latin Testament, renders the word, age, excepting only in 1 Cor. 8: 13. As he was a stickler for endless misery, no suspicion will rest on him as a heretic; nor will his character, as a Latin scholar, be called in question.

1

2. Cor. 4. 4.

Cor. 1. 20.

Gal. 1. 4.

I shall now give a brief notice of two other passages, in Letter 5. You ask, "Now is it credible that God should use the same word, in the same sentence, in totally different senses ?" Without answering either yea or nay to this query, it is sufficient to say that the scriptures do contain a number of verses, in each of