Boncroft, the learned Unitarian, who held to destruction, says: "We read of 'eternal redemption,' [Heb. ix, 12,] not that God will be forever redeeming men; but the blessed effects of redemption will be eternal. In the same sense we may understand the punishment of eternal fire, of eternal destruction, &c.; not that the act of destroying, or the fire of consumption will be perpetual and eternal, but the effects will be. A destruction which will never be reversed, may, with strict propriety, be called an everlasting punishment." See his Sermons. The same remarks apply to "eternal judgment." Heb. vi, 2.—Death not Life, p. 78.
In the language of Dr. Whitby, "This fire may be called eternal, not that the bodies of the wicked shall be ever burning in it, and never be consumed by it, since this cannot be done without a constant miracle; but because it shall so entirely consume their bodies as that they shall never subsist again, but shall perish, and be destroyed forever by it."
"Again, with reference to the word 'eternal,' we know that it sometimes has the sense of final, or nearly that sense. Because this destruction is eternal it does not follow that the act of destruction is to be always going on, but rather that the state of destruction is such that there is no recovery from it. Thus if a man were destroyed for a year, and then restored, it would be a punishment for a year; if for a hundred years, it would be a century of punishment; if for a thousand years, it would be a millennium of punishment—but if he was destroyed never to be restored throughout eternity, it would be an eternal punishment."
"Unquenchable fire."
THE original Greek for this term is puri asbesto, and occurs only in the following Scriptures: Matt. iii, 12; Mark ix, 43, 45; Luke iii, 17. The following extract from Eusebius, who for his erudite history of the primitive church is styled the "Father of Ecclesiastical History," and who became Bishop A. D. 315, gives the common use of this phrase. In his History, Book vi, chap. 41, he speaks of those who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria, as follows: "The first of these was Julian, a man afflicted with the gout, neither able to walk nor stand, who with two others that carried him, was arraigned. Of these, the one immediately denied, but the other, named Cronion, surnamed Eunus, and the aged Julian himself, having confessed the Lord, was carried on camels throughout the city—a very large one as you know—and in this elevation were scourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire—(puri asbesto.) After these, Epimachus and Alexander, who had continued for a long time in prison, enduring innumerable sufferings from the scourges and scrapers, were also destroyed in an immense fire"—(puri asbesto.)
Dr. McCulloh, of Baltimore, in his Analytical Investigations concerning the Credibility of the Scriptures, says, Vol. 2, p. 487, "That this phrase, unquenchable fire, was understood only in the sense of an intense fire that totally consumed whatever was subjected to it. Thus Eusebius, (Eccl. His., lib. 6, chap. 41,) in two places, uses the very words of Matt. iii, 12,—unquenchable fire—which has been translated by Cruse, 'an immense or intense fire,' in which certain Christians were burnt in Alexandria, by their heathen persecutors."
The Holiness and Obligations of Truth
The more holy the truth, the more like its Divine Author; and the more it will be opposed by carnal-minded men.
Free salvation lays you under infinite obligations. The greater your privileges, the greater your debt. Come to God for what no one else can give you, or do for you; plead his promise, and expect his aid; so you honor him.
Spiritual Desire.
UNSATIABLE desires in temporals, make a poor man in spirituals; a right Christian is only rich in outward things, when he is contented with what he hath. That man hath nothing of heavenly things, that thirsteth not after more. Worldly desires always leave us empty; either we get not what we covet, or else we are not satisfied with what we get; but he that thirsteth after heavenly things is always filled, and the more he receives the more he desires. Sincere desires will bring the richest and choicest mercies that God can give. What a glorious improvement might we make of this affection, if we did but divert the streams, and turn them heavenward. [Sel.
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