Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/104

 vine revelation, as much so as the immortality of the soul, the nature and time of the resurrection, the nature of heaven and hell, and the law that determines the associates of each one and the appearance of his surroundings in the Hereafter. Whoever rejects the doctrine, therefore, sets his own reason above revelation, or assumes to be "wise above what is written." Yet the revelation is not contrary to enlightened reason, but quite in accordance with it, as will be shown hereafter.

But let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the hells are not to be eternal;—that, ultimately, all the devils will become, through a process that no one yet understands or is able to explain, shining and happy angels. Supposing this to be the fact, the time may come when the Lord will reveal it to the children of men. But certainly that time has not yet arrived. The Lord has not yet made such a revelation as justifies any man who plants himself upon revealed truth, in maintaining the non-eternity of the hells. What right, then, have we to preach, on such a subject, a doctrine which the Lord in his infinite wisdom has thought proper not to reveal—nay, a doctrine the very opposite to that which He has revealed? If it were best for the world in its present state that this doctrine be preached, certainly God would have known it, and would have vouchsafed the needed revelation. But since He has not done this, but has told us in the most explicit language that the hells are eternal—that a man's ruling love cannot be changed after death