pose God will
forgive the people who wrote that book for children if they repent, but
I don't feel much like forgiving them. I can remember still lying
awake in the night and crying as I thought of the lost souls in Hell as
my poor little brain reeled at the thought of the journeys of that
wretched insect and of those whom God kept alive to suffer for ever and
ever and ever.

Then as one grew older came the further horror that these "lost" are
kept alive not only to suffer but to sin everlastingly. They are to go
on increasing in sin for ever and ever and ever in the universe of the
All-holy God. One tests this by the ruling thoughts of Scripture. One
thinks of God's holiness. One thinks of the golden thread of hope.
One wonders what it means that Christ came to "destroy the works of the
devil"[1] and to destroy the devil (bruise the serpent's head[2]) and
how one day "God shall be all in all" if straight opposite for all
eternity shall be Satan's Kingdom of misery and sin. Surely Christ has
not failed! And yet--and yet--what shall we say? And what shall we
say of God's fatherhood? Shall we say as some do that as Judge He must
do cruel things which as Father He would shrink from? God forbid! The
Judge and the Father are one. Men would never use such sophistry about
the character of God if it were put into plain words. "Ye must ken,"
said a godly old Scotchman, "that the Almighty may often have to do in
His offeeshial capacity what He would scorn to do as a private
individual!" I quote this not with flippancy but with stern
indignation. That is baldly what such sophistry means.

Clearly one who insists on this doctrine ought at least to be
absolutely certain that Scripture leaves him no escape from it. Now
the conclusion which a thorough study of the question leads to is
this;--that Scripture nowhere definitely affirms that the sufferings of
the lost _shall not be_ everlasting, and nowhere definitely affirms
that they _shall be_ everlasting.

Even that if it be true is some relief. We should no longer be forced
to believe of God what Conscience declares to be unworthy of Him. But
is it true? I can already see the Bible turned over for the dark array
of texts beginning with "He that believeth not shall be damned," "How
can ye escape the damnation of Hell?" "These shall go away into
everlasting punishment," etc.

Let me explain.

If we examine the Bible carefully we shall find that, while there ar