ty. On one occasion, in the days of his youth,
he was justly annoyed by his friend Coleridge, whose character was
very inferior to his own, though he always assumed a tone of moral
superiority. Lamb was so galled by Coleridge's air of virtue and piety,
at a moment when the humorist was suffering terribly in consequence of
his sister's calamity, that he sent the transcendental poet a list of
stinging questions. One of them asked whether one of the seraphim could
fall, and another whether a man might not be damned without knowing it.

This last question suggests itself in the case of Mr. Spurgeon. Mrs.
Spurgeon, Dr. Pierson, and other of the great preacher's friends, are
all assuring us that he is in glory. Writing seven days after his death,
Mrs. Spurgeon said "he has now been a week in heaven." It is natural
that she should think so, and we do not wish to rob her of any
consolation, nor do we suppose that this article will ever come under
her notice. But is it not just possible that Spurgeon has gone to hell?
And why should not the question be raised? We mean no personal offence;
we speak in the interest of justice and truth. Spurgeon was very glib in
preaching about hell, and we do not know that he had a monopoly of that
special line of business. He never blenched at the idea of millions
of human beings writhing in everlasting torment; and why should it
be blasphemy, or even incivility, to wonder if he himself has gone to
perdition?

Predestination, as the Church of England article says, is wonderfully
comforting to the elect; that is, to those who imagine themselves to be
so. But what if they are mistaken? What if a man, yea a fancied saint,
may be damned without knowing it? God Almighty has not published lists
of the Sect. Many a Calvinistic Pharisee is perhaps a self-elected saint
after all, and at the finish of his journey may find that he has been
walking in the wrong direction.

One of Spurgeon's rooted notions was that unbelievers were _sure_ of
hell. They bore the mark of predestinate damnation broad upon their
fore-heads. Now at the bottom this means that a man may be damned
for believing wrongly. But how can anyone be sure that Spurgeon was
absolutely right? The Baptists are only one division of Christians.
There are scores of other divisions. All cannot be right, and all may be
wrong. Even if one is entirely right, how do we know it is the Baptists?
According to the law of probabilities, Spurgeon was very