In  the  first  place,  then,  there  is  perhaps,  too  little

appearance  of  compassion,  and  too  mucli  detail  in  his

descriptions  of  the  punishments  after  death. The

general  idea  is  all  that  is  given  in  Scripture,  and

a3


even  that  is  rarely  insisted  on,  except  by  our  Lord
liimself ;  as  if  such  a  fearful  denunciation  could  only
have  its  right  effect,  when  pronounced  by  the  lips  of
him  who  is  love  itself. It  is  not  to  the  statement
of  the  doctrine  that  we  object ;  but  to  the  manner
o+"  doing  it. A^^hatever  men  may  think  or  feel  on
the  subject,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the  doctrine
does  stand  in  Scripture,  and  assuredly  it  docs  not
^tand  there  in  vain. We  must  leave  the  difficulties
',vith  God. The  light  of  the  last  day  Mill  dispel  all
darkness. In  the  mean  time,  it  must  be  stated  ;
but  let  it  be  stated  in  Scripture  language. Let  not
man  use  his  own  words,  and  far  less  his  own  fancy,
in  describing  the  future  punishments  of  the  impeni-
tent; and  above  all,  let  him  not  speak  of  them  as
one  at  ease;  and  let  him  not  describe  God  as  taking
pleasure  in  the  infliction. There  can  be  no  real  ad-
vantage gained  by  agitating  the  imagination  on  sucli
a  subject. Even  fear,  to  be  useful,  ought  to  have
some  calmness  in  it. And  it  ought  to  be  remem-
bered, that  men  are  not  made  Christians  by  terror,
but  by  love. It  is  tlie  genial  ray  of  the  Sun  of
Hijrliteousness,  and  not  the  storm  of  the  divine  wrath,
which  compels  the  sinner  to  lay  down  the  weapons
of  his  rebellion. The  steady  conviction  that  misery,
intolerable,  must  be  for  ever  connected  with  reject-
ing tlie  offered  mercy  of  God,  is  the  true  impression
produced  by  the  declarations  of  the  Bible  on  this
matter ;  and  this  is  a  much  more  efficient  and  prac-
tically useful  principle,  tlian  the  terrors  of  an  ima-
gination worked  up  by  a  picture  of  the  secrets  ol


XI

tliat  prison-liousc. Our  gracious  master,  who  suf-
fered in  our  stead,  and  whose  deep,  and  solemn,  and
tender  interests  in  our  welfare,  could  not  be  doubted,
did,  indeed,  in  his  dicourses,  always  set  before  men
life  and  death,  as  tlic  solemn  alternatives  of  their
choice ;  but  in  his  mouth  it  is  still  the  language  of
affectionatf". 