s true, there might be a gloomier _idea_ than hell itself; there might
be two such _ideas_. Nay, there _might_ be two such things; but yet, so
far as we know, there is only one. We beg such objectors to consider,
there are some things which, even according to our scheme, will not take
place quite so fast as they may be pleased to imagine them. It is true,
for example, that a man, that a rational being, _might_ take a copper
instead of a guinea, if both were presented for his selection; but
although we may conceive this, it does not follow that he will actually
take the copper and leave the guinea. It is also true, that a man _might_
throw himself down from the brink of a precipice into a yawning gulf; yet
he may, perhaps, refuse to do so. This may be merely a gloomy _idea_, and
may never become a gloomy fact. In like manner, as one world fell away
from God, so _might_ another, and another. But yet this imagination may
never be realized. Indeed, the Supreme Ruler of all things has assured us
that it will not be the case; and in forming our views of the universe, we
feel more disposed to look at facts than at fancies.

We need not frighten ourselves at "gloomy ideas." There are gloomy facts
enough in the universe to call forth all our fears. Indeed, if we should
permit our minds to be directed, not by the reality of things, but by the
relative gloominess of ideas, we should altogether deny the eternity of
future torments, and rejoice in the contemplation of the bright prospects
of the universal holiness and happiness of created beings. We believe,
however, that when the truth is once found, it will present the universe
of God in a more glorious point of view, than it can be made to display by
any system of error whatever. Whether the foregoing scheme possesses this
characteristic of truth or not, the reader can now determine for himself.
He can determine whether it does not present a brighter and more lovely
spectacle to contemplate God, the great fountain of all being and all
light, as doing all that is possible, in the very nature of things, for
the holiness and happiness of the universe, and actually succeeding,
through and by the cooeperation of his creation, in regard to all worlds
but this; than to view him as possessing the power to shut out all evil
from the universe, for time and for eternity, and yet absolutely refusing
to do so.

But let me insist upon it, that the first and the all-important inquiry
is, "What