ought about their wails and lamentations, and could not
believe that God was such an infinite monster. That was all he
thought, but he went to Hell. Then, there is another man who made a
hell on earth for his wife, who had to be taken to the insane asylum,
and his children were driven from home and were wanderers and vagrants
in the world. But just between the last sin and the last breath, this
fellow got religion, and he never did another thing except to take his
medicine. He never did a solitary human being a favor, and he died and
went to heaven. Don't you think he would be astonished to see that
other man in hell, and say to himself, "Is it possible that such a
splendid character should bear such fruit, and that all my rascality at
last has brought me next to God?"

Or, let us put another case. You were once alone in the desert--no
provisions, no water, no hope, just when your life was at its lowest
ebb a man appeared, gave you water and food and brought you safely out.
How you would bless that man. Time rolls on. You die and go to
heaven; and one day you see through the black night of hell, the friend
who saved your life, begging for a drop of water to cool his parched
lips. He cries to you, "Remember what I did in the desert--give me to
drink." How mean, how contemptible you would feel to see his suffering
and be unable to relieve him. But this is the Christian heaven. We
sit by the fireside and see the flames and the sparks fly up the
chimney--everybody happy, and the cold wind and sleet are beating on
the window, and out on the doorstep is a mother with a child on her
breast freezing. How happy it makes a fireside, that beautiful
contrast. And we say, "God is good," and there we sit, and she sits
and moans, not one night but forever. Or we are sitting at the table
with our wives and children, everybody eating, happy and delighted; and
Famine comes and pushes out its shriveled palms, and, with hungry eyes,
implores us for a crust. How that would increase the appetite! And yet
that is the Christian heaven. Don't you see that these infamous
doctrines petrify the human heart? And I would have everyone who hears
me, swear that he will never contribute another dollar to build another
church in which is taught such infamous lies. I want everyone of you
to say, that you never will, directly or indirectly, give a dollar to
any man to preach that falsehood. It has done harm enough. It has
covered the w