CHAPTER XXV.

EVERLASTING LIFE A DOGMA OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. EVERLASTING DEATH AN OPINION, NOT A DOGMA.

Variety of Opinions, in the Primitive Church as well as Now.-Bishop Pearson's Opinion given in full from his Standard Treatise on the Creed.-This the Common Opinion in the Church.—Agrees with Prayer Book and Catechism.-Milder Opinion of Origen, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Hilary of Poictiers, St. Firmilian, Didymus of Alexandria, and many Others.-No Condemnation of their Teaching.—Various Texts of Holy Scripture appealed to by them.-Use of the Hebrew word olam and the Greek word aion.-Canon Farrar quoted in full in Favor of the Milder View.-The Words "Damn" and "Damnation."-The word "Hell.”— Sheol, Gehenna, Hades, Tartarus.-Dr. Pusey and Canon Farrar.-Phrases in the Prayer Book consistent with the Milder View.-The Church Universal has never dogmatically Answered the Question.-Therefore there is Liberty of Opinion.

By Rev. JOHN H. HOPKINS, S.T.D., Burlington, Vt.

THE Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed contain a statement of those great truths which are "of faith." To these may be added the definitions of the undisputed General Councils, before the great schism between the East and the West. Everything that cannot be clearly decided by these great and primary authorities is matter of opinion, and not matter of faith.

The Apostles' Creed declares that we believe in "the life everlasting." The Nicene Creed says that we look for "the life of the world to come." That this life to come will be everlasting for the righteous, a life of everlasting happiness, "forever with the Lord," -all Christians in all ages are agreed.

But do these words in the creeds mean to assert the everlasting life of the wicked as well as of the righteous, and the eternity of the punishment of the lost as well as the unending joys of the blessed?

In reply to this question I shall give, not my own individual opinion on the subject, but simply an historical statement of facts.

As in all matters not clearly defined, there is great freedom of opinion. This freedom, on this subject, existed notoriously in the earlier ages of the Church, and exists quite as widely among us now. One view,—that which many would call "the old orthodox view,”—may well be presented in the words of Bishop Pearson, in his great treatise on the "Creed," which is included in the list of works set forth by our House of Bishops as text-books for the instruction of candidates for Holy Orders. In his explanation of "the life everlasting "—the last article of the Apostles' Creed—he first considers its application to the wicked, as if that were the primary object of the words: and he thus ends that part of his explanation

"To conclude this branch of the Article, I conceive these certain and infallible doctrines in Christianity: That the wicked after this life shall be punished for their sins, so that in their punishment there shall be a demonstration of the justice of God revealed against all unrighteousness of men: That to this end they shall be raised again to life, and shall be judged and condemned by Christ, and delivered up, under the curse, to be tormented with the Devil and his angels: That the punishment which shall be inflicted on them shall be proportionate to their sins as a recompense of their demerits, so that no man shall suffer more than he hath deserved: That they shall be tormented with a pain of loss, the loss from God, from whose presence they are cast out; the pain from themselves, in a despair of enjoying him, and regret for losing him: That they farther shall be tormented with the pain of sense inflicted on them by the wrath of God which abideth upon them, represented unto us by a lake of fire: That their persons shall continue forever in this remediless condition, under an everlasting pain of loss, because there is no hope of heaven; under an eternal pain of sense, because there is no means to appease the wrath of God which abideth on

*Page 557, ed. 1866, in Article XII.

them. Thus the Athanasian Creed: They that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.'

Then, again, in his final summary of the entire Article,† he says:

"This belief is necessary, 1st, to deter us from committing sin, and to quicken us to holiness of life, and a speedy repentance for sin committed," etc. "2d, To breed in us a fear and awe of the great God, a jealous God, a consuming fire, a God that will not be mocked; and to teach us to tremble at his word," etc. "3d, This belief is necessary to teach us to make a fit estimate of the price of Christ's blood, to value sufficiently the work of our redemption, to acknowledge and admire the love of God to us in Christ. For he which believeth not the eternity of torments to come can never sufficiently value that ransom by which we were redeemed from them, or be proportionately thankful to the Redeemer, by whose intervention we have escaped them. Whereas, he who is sensible of the loss of heaven, and the everlasting privation of the presence of God, of the torments of fire, the company of the Devil and his angels, the vials of the wrath of an angry and never-to-be-appeased God, and hopeth to escape all these by virtue of the death of his Redeemer, cannot but highly value the price of that Blood, and be proportionably thankful for so plenteous a redemption.'

"I do fully and freely assent unto this, as unto a most necessary and infallible truth, that the unjust, after their resurrection and condemnation, shall be tormented for their sins in hell, and shall be so continued in torments forever, so as neither the justice of God shall ever cease to inflict them, nor the persons of the wicked cease to subsist and suffer them; and that the just, after their resurrection and absolution, shall as the blessed of the Father obtain the inheritance, and as the servants of God enter into their Master's

* The Athanasian Creed has not been set forth by any General Council, and is not expressly adopted by the American Church.

+ Page 561, ibid.