Heb. 9 26. (For then must he (Christ) often have suffered since the foundation of the world) (kosmou); but now once in the end of the world (aionon) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

SECTION II.

Remarks on the phrase End of the World.

Thousands, yea, undoubtedly, millions, have read the texts in the foregoing section, have heard them read and explained, with full confidence of their teaching the end of the material world or universe. But we have to state that such is not the reality. The phrase, end of the world, does not teach, or even intimate, any such thing. It does not occur in the Old Testament at all. It only occurs in three books of the New Testament,— Matthew, 1st Corinthians, and in Hebrews. It occurs five times in St. Matthew's Gospel, once in 1st Corinthians, and once in Hebrews; in all, it occurs seven times, and only seven, in the whole Bible.

For the true signification of the phrase we have only to consult the connection in which it stands, and the true meaning of the word aionos, rendered world.

By consulting Matt. 13: 36-42, it will be found that Christ was declaring to his disciples the parable of the tares of the field. He says, "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world (kosmos); the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil (diabolos), the harvest is the end of the world (aionos); and the reapers are the angels." It appears to have been the style of the sacred writers, in speaking of any consummation for which men may have been said to be ripe, to call it the harvest. Jer. 8: 20; Joel 3: 13. "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow; for the wickedness is great," &c. See, also, Matt. 9 37, 38, and Rev. 14: 15.

The question now is, What did Christ mean by the harvest, which he calls the end of the world? In the 38th verse, as already seen, the word rendered world, is kosmos: the proper signification of which is the earth; it also signifies the system of the world, or universe. The word kosmos nowhere stands connected with the

phrase end of the world. But, in every instance where the phrase end of the world occurs in the Bible, we invariably find the word rendered world to be aionos, the general signification of which is "time; a space of time; life; lifetime; the ordinary period of man's life; age; age of man," &c. See Donnegan's Lexicon. But we think the word aionos, in these texts, is universally acknowledged, by commentators of note, to signify the age or dispensation. Then, in this text, "the harvest is the end of the world," it must signify the end of the Jewish age, or dispensation. The phrase rendered "end of the world" is sunteleia tou aionos, and literally signifies the conclusion of the age. From the foregoing results we find that the words "end of the world" merely signify the close of the Jewish state. The same expression is made in the 49th verse, and the same end expressed. In verse 50th it is added, "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." From these two verses we learn that the angels, after having severed the wicked from among the just, cast them into this furnace of fire. The figure, furnace of fire, is also used in the Scriptures to represent temporal calamity and destruction. The bondage of Israel under Pharaoh was described as a furnace. Deut. 4: 20, "But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt." See, also, 1 Kings 8: 51; Isa. 48: 10; Jer. 2: 4. Thus we see that Christ, in these expressions, signified the distress and destruction of that age, people and nation. And as further proof of the furnace of fire, see Isa. 31: 9, "And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem." By this text we see that Jerusalem was God's furnace, into which the wicked were to be cast at the conclusion of that age. And as further testimony that they were cast into the furnace of fire in Jerusalem, see Ezek. 22: 18–22. "Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jeru salem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will

leave you there and melt you. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you." We think there cannot remain a lingering doubt that the furnace of fire was the city of Jerusalem, into which God gathered the Jewish nation, and there melted them in the fire of his wrath. All this took place at the end of the world there described.

But it is said, "The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked, cast them into the furnace of fire," &c. The word here rendered angels is aggeloi, and signifies messengers. Now, who could have been the messengers, or instruments, of destruction to the Jewish nation? The answer is obvious, and can be but one, namely, the Roman armies. Whenever Christ is represented as coming in power to destroy, or to reward, he is represented as being attended by his angels. Matt. 16: 27, "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." This is declared, in the next verse, to be during the lifetime of some then living. We further learn who these angels are, in Matt. 24: 30, 31. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Now, as the angels, or messengers, in the 31st verse, are said to "gather together his elect," it is evident they performed a different service from those who destroyed. In Matt. 16: 27, it is said, “When the Son of Man shall come with his angels he will reward every man according to their works." Hence, we may look for angels in the company of Christ, who on the one hand administer evil, and on the other good. In Matt. 25: 31, the angels that come with Christ are called holy. See, also, Mark 8: 38, 9: 1; Luke 9: 26, 27. In all these places the coming of Christ with his angels is confined to that generation. In Matt. 25: 34, it is said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Thus we see Christ's coming, in attendance with his angels, to award life to one

and death to the other, was during that age. And now for further proof that the Romans were the angels, or messengers, who were to destroy Christ's enemies, the Jews, see 2 Thess. 1: 7, 8, " And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." See, also, Matt. 22: 7, "But when the king heard thereof he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." It is clear that these passages allude to the destruction of the Jews and their city, by the Romans. They were the messengers of God's wrath, to administer a just retribution to that untoward generation. A close observer of the Bible is aware that the term angel signifies not only good, but evil messengers; or those who execute both good and evil. The word angel is not only applied to human beings, but even to inanimate objects; as in the case of Paul, when he says "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger (aggelos) of satan to buffet me." 2 Cor. 12: 7. They are also sometimes called holy, not because they are so of themselves, but because they execute God's holy commands. See remarks on angels, in this work.

The same time and end is expressed in Matt. 24: 3, where we are informed that the disciples asked the Saviour what should be the sign of his coming, and of the conclusion of the age (sunteleins tou aionos). He speaks of the end of that age, in verses 6, 13, 14, of the same chapter; and, after pointing them to such signs as would infallibly enable them to discern its approach, he adds, verse 34, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." On the strength of this testimony plain, clear, and incontrovertible we say that the "harvest"

took place at the conclusion of the Mosaic age; and we further state that there is not an instance in the New Testament in which the Greek phrase, rendered "end of the world," as in the passage on which we are remarking, has any other signification. It should never be forgotten that "the end of the world" (verses 39, 40), at which the harvest was to take place, was not the end of kosmos, the world, - said to be the field, — but the end of aion, the age, vhich signifies the conclusion of the Jewish state.

The apostle Paul plainly tells us when the end of the world

zionon was. He says that it happened in his day. "Upon whora the ends of the ages (ta tete ton aionon) are come.' ." 1 Cor. 10: 11. And Christ told his disciples, in Matt. 28: 20, that he would be with them alway, even unto the end of the aionos" (age). Le was with them, by word and in spirit, until the full or complete end had come. And as Christianity may be said to have beg in when the Jewish religion ended, so Christ is said to have appeared at the end of the Jewish age. Paul says, in Heb. 9: 26, "I at now once in the end of the world (sunteleia ton aionon) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Paul savs, "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared," &c. He here represents the appearance of Christ, and the end of the world, as having already taken place; though the final scene was not then closed. And as the plural is sometimes used, "the ends of the ages," it is evident that they included the period and end of the apostolic age of miracles with the conclusion of the Jewish age.

We have now seen that all which is said in the Bible of the end of the world transpired about eighteen hundred years since, and in exact accordance with the time predicted that it should take place. And, lo! even yet do we see people gazing after some dire omen in the heavens, as betokening the sudden ruin of nations, the crashing wreck of empires and kingdoms, in connection with the immediate conflagration of our terraqueous globe. Yea, how many, in this eventful year of our Lord 1843, are trembling, Belshazzar-like, at the most common freaks of nature; as though their last expiring breath was about to take its final leap, and their earthly portions, in common with all terrestrial matter, about to be consigned to ore eternal night! Yes, are there not thousands, in these (ought to be) happy United States, whose minds (in consequence of one fanatic brain) are now being wrecked in chaos, on the dreadful thought of the immediate sound of the trumpet's blast, and their consignment to one eternal, lasting doom? Ought these things so to be? Christ said to his disciples, "Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." But it was certain that he would come in their day, in that generation. And yet people are so palpably blind to daylight facts, that they either will not, or cannot, hear nor understand. Hundreds of years have passed away since the destined period, and yet some in every age are looking, watching, and expecting the sudden end of the universe.