Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/164

 moved. Not only would the wicked perish, but the good would perish with them. For the love of goodness is the life of heaven, and the love of evil, which is perverted good, is the life of hell. The goodness which is thus loved or perverted is derived from Him whose essential nature is divine love. But if it were possible for anger to be mingled with the love of the Lord, there would be no divine goodness that could be either loved or perverted; and hence no source from whence either heaven or hell could exist. Even though it may be impossible, therefore, to convince those who are in the love of evil, that the wrath which they so much dread, has its cause in themselves, and has no existence in the Divine Being; it is nevertheless exceedingly desirable that all those who have any love for the truth, should regard this subject in its true light—should realize that the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, with all his holy angels, and all good men, will forever look with pity and compassion upon those wretched beings who have chosen death rather than life.

It is possible the views which I have here presented may attract the attention of some one, to whom the doctrine, that anger and wrath really belong to the Divine Being, is exceedingly dear, because so perfectly adapted to his own spiritual state. And, perhaps, in his imagination, he sees that wrath about to be poured upon those who have the temerity to call in question a doctrine which he esteems so peculiarly sacred. It might be suggested to such a man, that the wrath which he supposes is about to fall upon those poor fellow-mortals, who have incurred his displeasure, by holding doctrines different from his own,—that that wrath, like the doctrines whose denial has aroused it, comes from his own evil affections, and not from Him who is divinely good and true. It will be much more dangerous to himself than to any one else. I remember having once seen a poor lunatic, whose displeasure I had accidently incurred, engaged in the process of killing and and burying me, as he im-