Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/197

 hell draw near; for no other than a selfish end rules in hell.

"From these considerations it is evident how important it is for a man to examine and know the origin of his affections; and this can only be known from the end at which he aims."—Ibid. 3796.

In view of what has now been said, the practical bearings of this question are sufficiently obvious. When these great truths are recognized, that man is essentially a spiritual being; that, within our outer material vesture, is a spiritual and substantial body which continues to live after the material body perishes; that, as to our spirits we are now and always living in the spiritual world, in close companionship with an invisible company whose character is determined by our own governing motives and cherished purposes; that the character we form while here on earth will go with us into the other world, and continue essentially the same forever; that the spiritual associates we now choose and bind to us by an unfailing law, are the very ones whose companionship we shall prefer and seek in the life beyond the grave; that we are already in hell, however unconscious we may be of the fact, if our ends and aims be similar to those that rule in the realms below; and that our only hope of deliverance is in looking to the Lord in humble acknowledgment of our dependence on Him, and religiously obeying the laws of life that He has revealed;—when these truths, which are all involved in