Whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I Timothy i. 20.
Paul says that some supposed Christians had made shipwreck of their faith. Among these faith-wreckers he names two, Hymeneus and Alexander, and the words of the text are applied to them. Very curious is this declaration. The popular idea now-a-days, about Satan, is that he rules the infernal regions. In the Middle Ages, when men sold themselves to Satan, this meant that at death they would go to their master, to dwell with him in torment forever. To-day it is similarly understood and taught, that when people are condemned to hell, or the realms of Satan, they will stay there forever. This is the doctrine of eternal misery,—not indeed as believed by all Christians, but as very commonly understood.
