Judas, worthy of perdition. So a son of death is worthy of it, (2 Sam. xii. 5,) and ethnos apoleias is a nation fit to be destroyed. (Eccl. xvi. 9; Matt. xxiii. 15, and the note on Eph. ii. 2.”)

Dr. Whitby does not say what he understands by perdition; but the word apoleias, in the passage he quotes above, is precisely the word rendered perdition in the text. From the manner in which he uses that passage, he seems to have understood the word to imply temporal destruction, and nothing more.

ROSENMULLER."No one is ignorant that Judas is here intended the betrayer of Christ, and who had fallen off from him. Apoleia, (perdition,) therefore, as the preceding words teach, in this place, seems to indicate a defection from Jesus, the teacher; as in 2 Thess. ii. 2, where the phrase o uios apoleias (the son of perdition) differs very little from o uios amartias, (the son of transgression,) and is used concerning a noted impostor, who persuaded many to a defection from the Christian religion."

HAMMOND."All this while of my continuing among them, I have labored, by revealing thy will to them, to confirm them, and also to preserve them from danger, and it hath succeedeth well; of all those who were, by thy preventing grace, so prepared, as that they came to me, and undertook my service, none have carried or fallen off, (see chapter xviii. 9, and here verse 15,) but only the wicked traitor prophesied of. Psalm cix."

JUDGMENT TO COME.

"And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix tremble, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee."-ACTS xxiv. 25.

Many erroneously suppose that Felix trembled because Paul announced the awful doom that awaited him, in the immortal state of existence. This, however, is entirely assumed, as there is not the least particle of proof to sustain such a sentiment. We have the expression here, "judgment to come," but it does not say that this "judgment" was after the resurrection of man from the dead, nor in the future world. And when we understand correctly the language originally employed by the apostle, we shall see that Felix trembled, not because he feared a judgment day in the infinite ages to come and was in danger of endless perdition, but because the judgment threatened, and punishment announced was nigh at hand. The original expression, kai tou krimatos, tou mellontes esesthai, here rendered judgment to come, would be better translated by the judgment about to be, or soon to come, or "impending judgment." Dr. Howesis, in his translation of the New Testament, renders

the orginal as follows: "And as he discoursed of righteousness, and temperance, and judgment which is to be revealed, Felix, being greatly terrified, replied," etc. The following criticisms will help us to understand this and many other pas

sages.

Parkhurst says, "mello signifies, with an infinitive following, to be about to do a thing, futurus sum. (Matt. ii. 13; xvi. 27.) Both the verb and participle are in the New Testament joined with the infinitive future, as esesthai. So likewise in the purest Greek writers." In his note on Matthew iii. 7, Dr. Campbell says: "Mellon often means not only future, but near. There is just such a difference between estai, and mellei esesthai, in Greek, as there is between it will be, and it is about to be in English. This holds particularly in threats and warnings." These valuable criticisms are from eminent and learned men in the sacrificial church.

In the passage under consideration, mello is used with an infinitive, and according to these critics should be translated about to be. And Dr. Campbell says, "this holds particularly in threats and warnings," and certainly Paul was warning Felix of impending judgment. Sometimes mello with an infinitive is rendered about to do a thing, as in Acts iii. 3: "Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple." So in Matthew xvi. 27: "For the Son of man shall come (is about to come) in the glory of his Father with his angels," etc. So in the passage before us. When Paul reasoned of

"judgment to come," mello being used here with an infinitive, it means judgment about to be, or to come. Dr. Campbell says, mello often means not only future, but near; and as this holds good "particularly in threats and warnings," it is reasonable to suppose that Paul spoke of a judgment near at hand, and not of a day of future general judgment in the immortal world. Such a judgment would not have given Felix any special anxiety, particularly had he been told that by repentance he could easily escape the penalty of God's law! Such a statement is not designed to excite any alarm. There is nothing in the passage to indicate that Paul reasoned about a judgment to come in the future world, but its very structure shows that reference was made to a judgment soon to come· near at hand.

Let us remember the circumstances under which this language was uttered. Felix, while procurator of Judea, became, as Josephus tells us, so captivated with Drusilla, the wife of another man, that he, by skillful intrigue, persuaded her to abandon her husband and marry him. Accordingly she acted ill, eloped from her lawful husband, and at the time Paul addressed Felix, he was living in adultery with this woman. Paul discoursed very faithfully to this vile man. He did not tell this couple of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, but of their sins, and the divine judgments which hung over them, and were about to come upon them. He reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and

judgment about to come. Paul used the word righteousness, here, to rebuke the injustice and cruelty practised by Felix. When Paul discoursed of temperance, he meant restraint from all the bad passions in which Felix had reveled. The word is used here as being opposed to incontinence. Paul discoursed upon chastity, and preached right at Felix, who trembled before the rebukes of this apostle. Whitby says that "Felix practised uncleanness with greediness."

After exposing his injustice, and pointing out his iniquity, Paul very naturally spoke of the punishment which awaited him for his sins, or the judgment about to come. As we have no report of his discourse, and as the Bible gives no particulars, save that Paul spoke of righteousness, temperance, and judgment about to come, we are left to reason as best we may, in regard to the punishment soon to come upon this wicked man.

Paul may have referred to the national calamities and judgments then soon to come upon the Jewish people, or he might have referred to some signal display of divine judgment to overtake Felix, like that which came upon Herod, when eaten up by worms, or he might have spoken of the legal punishment to which his iniquity exposed him. In absence of direct proof, we cannot assert with positiveness what punishment was alluded to, but whatever it was, it was soon to come; it was a judgment which was about to be, or which was near at hand.