prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel."-(Eph. iii. 5, 6.)

Q. What should be understood by the invitation given to those on the right hand?

A. It should be understood as a representation of the invitation and welcome which Jesus and his Apostles extended to the Gentile nations, to come into the belief and enjoyment of his gospel.

Q. Were the blessings of the gospel actually presented to the Gentiles?

A. They were.

"Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, (Jews;) but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."-(Acts xiii. 46.)

Q. Did the Gentiles enter into the gospel kingdom?

A. They did. "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord."—(Acts xiii. 48.) The gospel was joyfully received by the Gentiles, and none but Gentile nations have yet entered the kingdom of Christ.

Q. Is our country one of the Gentile nations which has been permitted to enter the gospel kingdom and participate in its blessings?

A. It is.

Q. To what does Christ allude when he says, "For I was a hungered and ye gave me meat," etc.?

A. This is an allusion to the readiness and cheerfulness with which the Gentiles received those who proclaimed the gospel, and attended to their necessities and comforts.

Q. What should we understand by the question of those on the right hand, "Lord, when saw we

thee a hungered," etc., and the King's reply to the same?

A. We should understand this portion of the parable as teaching that whoever rendered assistance to the humblest preacher of the gospel, rendered it unto Jesus-and that on the other hand, whoever refused to assist those who were spreading abroad a knowledge of Christ's religion, refused to assist the Son of God, whose instruments and servants they

were.

LESSON XXX.

Parable of the Sheep and Goats—Continued.

Q. What is the King represented as saying to those on the left hand?

A. "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

Q. What is the original word which is here translated everlasting?

A. It is aionion. This word is an adjective, derived from aion.

Q. Must an adjective have a similar meaning to the noun from whence it is derived?

A. It must.

Q. What is the meaning of aion?

A. It signifies an age, or an indefinite period of time. And as aionion must have a similar meaning, aionion-fire, must signify an age-lasting fire, or a fire which continues to burn for an indefinite or unknown period of time.

Q. Is not the word everlasting frequently applied in the Scriptures to things which are well known to come to an end?

A. It is. The possession of Canaan by the Jews is called an everlasting possession, and the Levitical priesthood is called an everlasting priesthood, yet these things have long since come to an end. And the Jewish slaves were required to serve their masters forever or everlastingly.—(See Gen. xvii. 8: Num. xxv. 13: Exod. xxi. 6.)

Q. Do all commentators agree that everlasting and forever, frequently mean a period of limited duration?

A. They do. This is a well settled and undoubted fact.

Q. Does everlasting, in any instance, mean a strictly endless duration?

A. It does in those instances where it is applied to that which, from its own nature, is endless: as to the being of God, or the attributes of God.

Q. How should we ascertain when forever, or everlasting, or eternal, signify an endless period of time, and when they mean a period which comes to an end?

A. The only way to determine this point, is to judge by the nature of the subjects to which they refer.

Q. Is there anything in the nature of fire which renders its duration endless?

A. There is not. Fire can no longer continue in existence than it is fed with fuel.

Q. Is there anything in the nature of punishment which renders its duration necessarily endless?

A. There is not. The very object of punishment shows that it must come to an end. St. Paul declares that punishment "afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews xii. 11.) To yield this fruit, and to have an afterward, it must unavoidably, be brought to an end.

Q. What is the original Greek word, which in this parable is translated devil?

A. It is diabolo, which signifies an adversary, an accuser-and has no reference to an invisible wicked spirit, as we have seen in the parable of the Wheat and Tares.

Q. Who were the devil and his angels, alluded to in the parable?

A. It is supposed by some that they were the Jews themselves, to whom the language was addressed. They are, and ever have been, the great opposers of Christianity-the adversaries of Christ. And they were told to depart into everlasting or age-lasting fire, because that fire or punishment had been expressly prepared for them.

Q. Is there not much plausibility in this construction?

Q. What other meaning has been put upon these words?

A. It has been supposed they mean the enemies with whom the Jews have had to contend during the long ages in which they have been suffering the just punishments of heaven.

Q. How, then, should we understand the sentence passed upon those at the left hand?

A. We should understand it as signifying the casting away of the Jews into that state of degradation and wretchedness, in which they have been involved from their dispersion, about forty years after Christ spoke this parable, to the present day-and which is truly represented as an age-lasting fire, or punishment a punishment the duration of which is unknown to man.

Q. How do we know this punishment of the Jews will not be endless?

A. Because Jesus declared that the Jews shall yet see him, when they shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."-(Matt. xxiii.

39.) And St. Paul assures us that after the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, then "all Israel shall be saved."-(Rom. xi. 25, 26.)

Q. How does the parable conclude?

A. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal." Q. Have we already considered the meaning of everlasting punishment?

A. We have. Kolasin aionion means simply a punishment, or more properly a chastisement, which shall continue for a long and indefinite period of time, but which will finally come to an end.

Q. What is the meaning of the life eternal, or zoen aionion, into which those on the right hand were to enter?

A. This phrase means the spiritual life which is enjoyed by the sincere believer in Jesus Christ.(See Lesson VI., p. 29.)

Q. Did Jesus himself use these words in this manner?

A. He did. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath [already] everlasting life, (zoen aionion,) and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."(John v. 24.)

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Q. Does the entering into "life eternal," in this verse, mean the same as inheriting the kingdom," mentioned in verse 24 of the parable?

A. It does.

Q. What do you learn by this explanation ?

A. We learn that those on the right hand, the Gentiles, were bidden to enter into the spiritual life, and all the enjoyments and blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Q. Do either the punishment of the Jews on the left hand, or the blessings of the Gentiles on the right hand, have any particular reference to the scenes of another world?