Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

ment, Luke xvi. 23; or in general, Rev. i. 18; vi. 8; xx. 13 14.. PARKHURST.

This word occurs 11 times in the New Testament, and is translated,

Hell, Matt. xi. 23, brought down to hell; xvi. 18, gates of h. Luke x. 15, down to h. xvi. 23, in h. he; Acts ii. 27, 31, in h. Rev. i. 18, keys of h. vi. 8, h. followed: xx. 13, 14, death and hell.

Grave, 1 Cor. xv. 55, O grave. where is thy victory ?

GEENNA, (1) In the N. T. Geenna tou puros. A GChenna of fire, Matt. v. 22, does, I apprehend, in its outward and primary sense, relate to that dreadful doom of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom ; though this as well as other degrees of punishment, mentioned in the context, must as Doddridge has remarked,be ultimately referred to the invisible world, and to the future vengeance of an offended God. (2) It commonly denotes immediately hell, the place or state of the damned. In Mark ix. 43, 44, &e. our Lord seems to allude to the worms which continually preyed on the dead carcases that were cast into the valley of Hinnom, and to the perpetual fire kept up to consume them. PARKHURST.

"Gaienna," says our Lexicographer, "is used by the LXX for the Heb. GIENCM. Joshua xviii. 16. So Geenna of the N. T. is in like manner a corruption of the two Heb. words, Gr. a valley, and Emeм, Hinnom, the name of a person who was once the possessor of it. This valley of Hinnom lay near Jerusalem, and had been the place of those abominable sacrifices in which the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moleck, Baal, or the Sun."

Geenna, or Gehenna as the word is spelt in Latin, is used 12 times in the New Testament, and is always translated hell. All the places, therefore, in which we find the word hell in the N. T. is geenna in the Greek, except what are mentioned under the word hades and in 2 Pet. ii. 4. Tartarosas, from tartaroō, is there render

ed cast down to hell. Lexicographers explain tartaroō,

to cast into tartarus or prison. tarosas by detrudens in tartarum.

Montanus renders tar-
This word is used in

no other passage of scripture, but is said to be found in a number of instances, in the writings of the Greek poets.*

In the Hebrew of the Old Testament we find but one word used for hell, which is

SAOOL, the invisible state of the dead, the place and state of those who are out of the way, and to be sought for. PARKHURST.

"In this view," says Parkhurst, "it seems nearly to answer to the Greek hades (by which the LXX almost constantly render it) i. e. ho aides topos, the invisible place, and to our old English word hell, which though now scarcely used but for the place of torment, yet being a derivative from the Saxon hillan or helan to hide, or from holl a cavern, anciently denoted the concealed or unseen place of the dead in general, as is manifest from the version of Psal. xlix. 14; lv. 15; Ixxxviii. 3 ; Ixxxix. 48, in K. Henry VIII's Great Bible." "QUEBER denotes the grave or sepulchre, properly so called; saool signifies that which is common to all, the common receptacle of the dead. Thus Leigh in his

*Socrates, an ancient heathen philosopher, according to Rollin, uses this word in expressing his views of hell in the following manner: "Those who are judged to be incurable upon account of the greatness of their crimes, who from deliberate will, have committed sacrileges and murders, and other such great offences, the fatal destiny that passes judgement upon them, hurls them into Tartarus, from whence they never depart. But those who are found guilty of crimes, great indeed, but worthy of pardon; who have committed violences in the transports of rage against their father or mother, or have killed some one in a like emotion, and afterwards repented, these suffer the same punishment, and in the same place with the last; but for a time only, till by their prayers and supplications they have obtained pardon from those they have injured." Ancient History, Vol. IV. page 322.

This is the same word that is called Sheol in a note, page 53, Vol. I. it being there spelt according to the points.

ment, Luke xvi. 23; or in general, Rev. i. 18 ; vi. 8 ; xx. 13 14.. PARKHURST.

This word occurs 11 times in the New Testament,

and is translated,

Hell, Matt. xi. 23, brought down to hell; xvi. 18, gates of h. Luke x. 15, down to h. xvi. 23, in h. he; Acts ii. 27, 31, in h. Rev. i. 18, keys of h. vi. 8, h. followed: xx. 13, 14, death and hell.

Grave, I Cor. xv. 55, O grave. where is thy victory ?

GEENNA, (1) In the N. T. Geenna tou puros A Gchenna of fire, Matt. v. 22, does, I apprehend, in its outward and primary sense, relate to that dreadful doom of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom ; though this as well as other degrees of punishment, mentioned in the context, must as Doddridge has remarked,be ultimately referred to the invisible world, and to the future vengeance of an offended God. (2) It commonly denotes immediately hell, the place or slate of the damned. In Mark ix. 43, 44, &e. our Lord seems to allude to the worms which continually preyed on the dead carcases that were cast into the valley of Hinnom, and to the perpetual fire kept up to consume them. PARKHURST.

"Gaienna," says our Lexicographer, "is used by the LXX for the Heb. GIENEM. Joshua xviii. 16. So Geenna of the N. T. is in like manner a corruption of the two Heb. words, Gr. a valley, and Emeм, Hinnom, the name of a person who was once the possessor of it. This valley of Hinnom lay near Jerusalem, and had been the place of those abominable sacrifices in which the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moleck, Baal, or the Sun."

1

Geenna, or Gehenna as the word is spelt in Latin, is used 12 times in the New Testament, and is always translated hell. All the places, therefore, in which we find the word hell in the N. T. is geenna in the Greek, except what are mentioned under the word hadēs and in 2 Pet. ii. 4. Tartarōsas,from tartaroo, is there render

their own concessions. We find but a solitary instance, namely in 2 Pet ii. 4, in which there is thought to be an allusion to any other. Gehenna, which is considered the only proper name of hell in the original of the New Testament, had its origin from idolatrous sacrifices. If there be a hell co-existent with the abodes of the blessed, is it not strange, that it should have remained anonymous, till Moses and the prophets had finished their testimony? Besides, by the concession of the learned PARKHURST, we see that the English word, used to describe the place of endless forment, 300 years ago, had a very different meaning, both by derivation and use. The fact, undoubtedly, is, that where the wicked and misery are, there is hell, whether in the present or future state; and where the righteous and felicity are, there is the heaven that we need. There was, undoubtedly, no hell, till the wicked began to exist; nor will there be any hell, when the wicked shall be no more. "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be," Ps. xxxvii. 10.

From the Unitarian Miscellany.

CHRIST AND THE FATHER ON E.

One of the most common texts quoted by trinitarians to prove that the Son and the Father are the same being, is that in which Christ says, "I and my Father are one." If we look a little into the context we shall perceive that in whatever sense these words ought to be taken, they cannot possibly mean, that Christ was the same being as the Father. He had been speaking to the Jews the parable of the good shepherd, and, in alluding to his own death, he said he had authority to lay down his life, and to receive it again. But he immediately after adds, that he had received this commandment from the Father; that is, it was by the will and

He

power of the Father, and not of himself, that he was able to lay down his life, and receive it again. He also speaks of doing his works in his Father's name. says his sheep were given him by his Father, and represents himself as one, "whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world." Now let it be asked, whether it were possible for him to use such language, if he were actually speaking of himself, when he refers to the Father? No one can believe this, who would draw any consistent meaning from his discourse. It is obvious from these passages, that when he spoke of himself and the Father being one, he could not mean they were the same being, or person, but that they were united in accomplishing the same object. He acted by the command of God, and by the power, which was given him, and did nothing except in accordance with the divine will

[ocr errors]

Such is the conclusion, which a rational interpretation would bring out of the passage itself. And this is confirmed by comparing scripture with scripture, which, after all, is the best rule that ean be followed. In the seventeenth chapter of John; our Savior has explicitly told us what we are to understand by his being one with the Father. He prays thus; Holy Father, keep through thine own name those, whom thou bast given me, that they may be one, as we are." Again, "The glory, which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know, that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' ""* Here our Savior prays, not only, that he and his disciples may be one, but that they also may be one, in the same sense, as he and his Father are one. From what has been said, it is plain, that it might just as well be inferred that Christ and his disciples were one and the same being, as that he and the Father were one and the same. His language is precisely the same in one case, as it is in the other.

*John xvii. 11, 21, 22

« ForrigeFortsett »