Page:A Defence of Revealed Religion.pdf/42

42 cannot convert them, for though it may force the conduct, it possesses no power in moulding the thoughts and the affections; the leadings of truth cannot draw them from sin, for there they have taken falsity for their guide, because it harmonizes with their cherished desires. To the dwellers in the regions of the lost may be applied the Saviour's lament: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." It is the voice of Eternal Truth that proclaims the law of death, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still: he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Thus heaven and hell are linked in one decree; our hope of éternal bliss and our dread of eternal misery are based upon similar grounds; that the life here is the life of preparation, and the life hereafter that of realization. "As we sow so shall we reap." Now is the seed-time, the day of harvest will soon be upon us.

These views concerning the nature and origin of eternal suffering we venture to affirm are at once scriptural and rational, and they make sin more terrible and God more loveable.

The hideous pictures that a certain school of religionists have drawn of the torments of the lost, and the means devised by God for the purpose of wreaking