I would observe, that by the help of a Concordance they may easily compare different passages, and judge of the accuracy of a critical remark which they could not have made themselves. I will venture to assert that there is no important doctrine of Christianity which a clear head, directed by an honest heart, will not enable a person to understand even from our translation. Be not then afraid of examination, but "in understanding be men.”

Now the observation which particuJarly claims our notice as deciding the question at once, is, that the word which is translated Eternal, Everlasting, and for ever, does not in itself signify eternal, everlasting, or for ever. That it may be applied to a subject whose duration is unlimited must be allowed, as indeed it is to the life of the righteous and the existence of God, but then it receives and does not give the idea of endless.

endless. The primitive from which it is derived, the substantive of which it is the adjective, signifies Life, Age, Period, or in its most extended sense Dispensation. Mr. Stonehouse, in his learned work on this subject, uses both the words in English, calling the substantive Æon and the adjective Æonian. If then the substantive on signifies Life, Age, Period, or Dispensation, the adjective Eonian must signify continuance during

b Homer uses it for Life, sometimes for a short life which was lost in battle, as

Il. iv. 478.

μινυνθάδιος δε οἱ αιων Επλεθ ̓, ὑπ' Αιαντος μεγαθυμε δερὶ δάμεντι. Short was his Life, taken off as he was by the spear of the magnanimous Ajax.

Il. v. 685.

επειτα με και λιποι αιων

Εν πόλει ὑμετέρη.

And then may Life forsake me in your city.

Il. xvi. 453. Αυταρ επην δη τονγε λιπη ψυχη τε και αιων.
But when his Soul and his Life shall have left him.

For the Scripture meaning of the words awv and alwrios, which the Septuagint Translators use for the Hebrew word by in its varieties, as a verb originally signifying to hide, see Simpson's Essay on the Duration of a future State of Punishments and Rewards.

the

the Life, Age, Period, or Dispensation to which it is applied, and may, in every place, be translated lasting, durable, protracted, or continued. That the sense of the adjective must be ascertained by the substantive, you may be as confident as that the meaning of the words daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, is fixed by that of the words day, week, month, and year. When I inform you that in all the passages which I shall now recite, the word is Æon in the original, you will see clearly that it cannot mean Eternity. In 2 Cor. iv. 4. Satan is called the "God of this on," surely not the God of this Eternity. Again, Eph. vi. 12. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this Eon" certainly not of this Eternity. 1 Tim. vi. 17. "Charge them that are rich in this world's goods;" certainly

not in the goods of this Eternity. Acts xv. 18. "Known unto God are all his works since the Eon beganf;" certainly not since the Eternity began. Matt. xii. 32. The sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven in this on, nor in that which is to come;" certainly not in this Eternity, nor when it is past in that which is to succeed it. The original word is often used in the plural number, and surely it is absurd to speak of Eternities. In the 1st of Cor. ii. 7. 66 we read of the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the Eons ↳.” In Exod. xv. 18. we have this phrase, “the Lord shall reign for ever and ever." It is in the Septuagint, "from on to Eon and farther i." In Dan. xii. 3. we are told that " they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for

1 απ' αιώνος.

5 ουτε εν τουτῳ τῳ αιωνι, ούτε εν τῳ μελλοντι.

ever and ever." It is in the Septuagint through the Eons and farther

Micah iv. 5. "we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. It is in the Septuagint "through the Æon and beyond it." With respect to the adjective, we read of “ the everlasting hills "," of of "the everlasting priesthood of Aaron "," of the "land of Canaan being an everlasting inheritance," of the passover being an ordinance for ever P, of circumcision being an everlasting covenant, and of a servant serving for ever. The Apostle speaks of those ordinances which are called everlasting, as continuing till the time of reformation; and in the 2d of Tim. i. 9. " of the favour bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ before the ever

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