The death of death; or, A study of God's holiness in connection with the existence of evil, in so far as intelligent and responsible beings are concerned

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Table Of Contents

PAET I,

The Problem of Evil Incapable of Solution on the Basis of a Hopeless Future Punishment, or of Annihilation.

Page Chapter I— Preliminary Narrative and Statement of the Question 3

Chapter II— Life and Death 17

The Universal Questions — Whence am I? What am I? Whither go I? — The Wonderful Achievements of Science — But Science cannot Answer — Nor can Philosophy — Nor can Ancient or Modern Wisdom and Experience — The Scriptures Alone can Answer— If their Answer be not True, we are in Midnight Darkness Still — Man, the Prince Imperial of Earth — The Breath of God — Made in the Image of God, his Father — Made Immortal in Body and Soul — His Immortality Conditional on Unity with God, who is " the Life"— Forfeited by

VI CONTENTS,

Page Sin— Death Introduced— Not mere tMssoiutioii of the Flesh, as in the Death of Beasts— Death in Man a Condition of the Soul or Mind Resulting from Alienation from the u Life of God " — Incurred the Instant that he Sinned — Dead while he Lives — Resulting from his own Fault.

Chapter III— Life Renewed— Death Confirmed 32

The Universal Questions Again— After Death, What?— u If a Man Die, shall he Live Again? " — Scripture Alone can Answer — "As in Adam all Die, so in Christ shall all be Made Alive" — The Promise not Absolute, but Conditioned on our Will and Co-operation — We Need only Strive against Sin and Accept Christ — At our "Appointed Time," the Body to Earth, the Soul to God — The State of the Soul Afterwards— Those "in Christ" Alive Again, the Rest Still Dead— In a Conscious State — Rest and Peace for the One, Misery for the Other — The Resurrection — Paradise Lost Nothing to Paradise Regained — Immortal Happiness to the Souls of the Blessed, Restored to Immortal Bodies — Welcomes from the Blessed Dead and all the Company of Heaven-—" The Lost " Suffering Bitterly and More Acutely than when on Earth — How is God Affected by their Sufferings? — This Solemn Question to be Answered in Future Chapters — Review of This and the Last Chapter.

Chapter IY— The Various Theories as to the Condition of "The Lost" 45

The Number of People in the World — The Innumerable Multitudes that have Lived— A Fearful Statement— Various Theories— First, that of Endless and Hopeless Punishment —The Two Hostile Parties which Divide those who Hold it— Dr. Bledsoe's Theodicy — A Great Explorer — His Discussion of the Origin of Evil — Attempt to Prove it Consistent with God's Holiness on the Concession of a Hopeless Punishment — Its Failure — Does not Satisfactorily Explain the Act of Creating Man, Knowing that He Would Fall into Hopeless Suffering — The Explanation Impossible on that Theory,

CONTENTS. Vll

Page even for Dr. Bledsoe— His View Reserved for Examination in Chapter VI — Second, Theory of Annihilation Contrary to our Instincts — Contrary to our Reason — Contrary to Scripture — If Credible, more Acceptable than the other.

Chapter V— The Various Theories as to the Condition of "The Lost," Continued 60

A Still Milder Opinion— Third, The Theory that the Future Punishment is Ionian, or for the ^Eon, Age, or Dispensation — Its Duration only Stated Indefinitely by Scripture — The Punishment there Revealed is Qualitative, not Quantitative — It is one " Taking Place in Eternity." — Review of all the Texts in Scripture that are Usually Thought to Favor a Hopeless Punishment — Demonstration that they do Not do so — Fourth, The Theory that Future Punishment will Endure as Long as the Sinful Temper Endures, but is Terminable by Repentance and Restoration to the u Life of God," through Christ, in the Next World as well as in this — Its Truth to be Established by the Ensuing Chapters.

Chapter VI— Sin not Necessarily Self-Perpetuating, and its Punishment not, therefore, Unending 81

An Infinite Punishment not Communicable by Human Language — Nor to the Human Mind — Eternity not Thinkable, and, therefore, Incommunicable — Utmost Space or Time Intelligible only as Being Indefinite — Infinite Happiness of the Blessed Dead, not Resting on any Such Indefinite Words as " Everlasting," " Eternal," &c, but on their Heirship with Christ — Bledsoe's Theodicy admits a Qualitative Punishment, but Argues that it will Never End Because the Sinner will Never Cease to Sin — Not Sustained by Scripture — Nor by the Nature of Sin — Nor by the Nature of Man — Sin a Disease, but not an Incurable One — Man the Same Being, Here and Hereafter, in all Essential Qualities — If Capable of Repentance Here, why not Hereafter? — Death Here, and Death Hereafter the Same in Kind, only Differing in Degrees of Pain— " Death Eternal," " Death Everlasting " not Scrip-

Vlll CONTENTS.

Page ture Phrases — Bledsoe's Theodicy Seems to Justify the Creation of one Sure to Fall into Hopeless Misery, Because this World is a Dim Speck of Vitality in a Boundless Dominion of Light, and was Necessary to the Glory of God and of His Universe — Not Sound— God's Justice and Mercy Over all His Works, the Least as well as the Greatest — No Glory could be so Advanced or could Justify the Creation of Beings, the Heirs of Misery Without End — Sin and Death will Triumph in no case over God — He will Triumph in every case over them — God can Save all His Miserable Creatures — Is willing to do so — That He has Made Provision to Effectuate it Ultimately is to be Proved in Part II of this Book — Thus His Holiness may be Vindicated even in Connection with the Existence of Evil.

PAET II.

The Problem of Evil Capable of Solution on the Basis of a Future Punishment not Hopeless but Reformatory.

Chapter I— The Ministry of Sorrow ; and Herein, of the u Anger" of God, His u Wrath," His "Vengeance" 103

Scripture Truth Conveyed to us in Paradoxes or Seeming Contradictions — We are to Draw the Resultant Truth — Between God's Anger and His Loving Kindness, His Wrath and His Tender Mercy, His Vengeance and His Love — Between His Hardening the Hearts of Pharaoh and the Jews, and His Tempting no one with Evil — Between His Unchangeableness, and His Repenting 4i at His Heart" of the Creation of Man — Thus Learning how God Feels Towards us — These Harsher Terms not Literal, but an Accommodation to our Mode of Viewing Things — Resultant, He Hates the Sin but Loves the Sinner — His Anger, Wrath, Vengeance, Consistent with the Tenderest Love for the Worst Offenders — Our Life a Pilgrimage — A Travelling School— God our Schoolmaster

CONTENTS. IX

Page Teaching His Children from the Love of Them— The Lesson—He Permits us to Build Tabernacles, if they are Types of the Heavenly City — The Strange Tabernacles we Build — They Must Come Down — The Mourning over their Fall — The Precious Gif c — If we will not Learn the Lesson, What Then ? — Earthly Parentage the Type of the Divine Feelings and Conduct Towards us — The Type Chosen by God Himself—The Two Illustrated— " The Lord will not Cast off Forever" — Another and Severer Probation to be Accorded to those who Fail in This — On that Condition all Sorrows here are Good Things — The Ministry of Sorrow a Redeeming Influence.

Chapter II— The Ministry of Sorrow, Continued ; and Herein of Inequalities ; of Fortune, of Spiritual Opportunities, and of Spiritual Susceptibilities. 124

God's Dealings with the Individual — Job's Wonderful History — Teaching that God's Works Specially in the Case of each of us ; Works not on a Fixed and Inexorable Law, but on the Principles of Equity ; Employs for our Good every Agency in Heaven, Earth and Hell ; Adapts every Circumstance of Fortune and Condition to our Peculiar Cases, and does it all for our Keformation — Cases Illustrating the Various Inequalities of Life — One Possessed of every Temporal and Spiritual Advantage and Opportunity, Contrasted with one Entirely Destitute of Them — Kev. James Chisholm Contrasted with Various Men — Men Endowed by Nature with Violent Passions — Men Endowed with Weak Spiritual Susceptibilities — These Inequalities Irreconcilable with the Justice of God, on the Theory of a Hopeless Future Punishment — On our Theory they all are Entirely Keconcilable with God's Justice — This Illustrated by the Principles Set Forth in Job's Case, and by the Infinitely \aried Destinies of the Multitudes of our Eace in the Occupations of the Future Life.

X CONTENTS.

Page Chapter III— The Divine Plan of Creation and of Salvation 151

The Plan of Both Considered and Devised as a Whole in the Counsels of the Eternal Trinity — Made in the Image of God, we may Eeverently Conceive that Plan, in Some dim Measure— The Plan Set Forth, in the Light of Scripture — The Principle .of Law and Morals on which the Weight of Concurring Texts is to be Estimated — Texts Set Forth at Large which are Deemed Conclusive Proof of the Plan of Salvation above Propounded — They are Strong in Themselves — They Support each other with Cumulative Force — They Support each other in Geometrical Ratio — They Present a Conclusive Case — They Sot Forth a New Probation — The Consequent Capacity for Repentance in the Future World — The Ultimate Restoration of all Things to the Love and Favor of God— The Harmony of the Universe.

Chapter IV— Objectors and Objections 178

Partisan Theologians — Denunciations of all who Question the Infallibility of Accepted Dogma — Unnecessary Conflict between Revelation and True Science — Fears that Betray Lack of Faith — Welcome to Honest Investigators — And to New Facts — Honest Thinkers — Their Errors — Fears of Disturbing the Faith and Repose of Simple Souls who Implicitly Believe — They Would have Forbidden the Reformation — Would Stop all Progress Hereafter Towards Infinite Truth — Objections to Reviewing the Doctrine of Future Punishment Considered — The Truth to be Uttered by all Before all other Things — Consequences not within our Ken — In God's Control Alone — Men Wrest all Scriptures and all Truth — Yet This did not Silence Paul — The Doctrine of Hopeless Future Punishment an Impediment to Religion — It does not Produce Repentance, because Generally Disbelieved — Even by those who Accept it Dogmatically — Incredible, Because Hope is Indestructible — Less Effective than the Doctrine of a Reformatory Punishment, which is Credible by all — Illustrations—

CONTENT^. XI

Page The Apostles' Creed Contains " Life Ever-Lasting"; but not Ever-Lasting Punishment — Hopeless Punishment Not a Test of Orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church — Her Wise Course — False Ideas of Earthly Pleasure — False Ideas of the Comparative Guilt of Different Sins— False Ideas of the Effect of Kepentance — " Judge Not " — Illustration.

Chapter V— Keview and Conclusion 201

Appeal Against Misrepresentation — Or Misunderstanding- Restatement of Conclusions Reached — Restatement of Heads of argument — Universal Harmonies — Te Deum Laudamus — "Conclusion of the Whole Matter'' — Let no one Wrest it — Future Punishment, Though not Hopeless, may Exceed in Anguish all that we can now Realize — But will Attain the End for which it was Ordained, the Instruction of Men and Angels, and the Ultimate Destruction of All Evil.

ERRATA.

Page 11, loth line from bottom, for did know read did not know. 18, lines 11, 13, striKe out quotation marks.

21, 11th line from bottom, for this, read thee.

22, 4th and 5th lines, put in quotation marks, u as well might

pigmies lift a mountain from the sea,"

23, 1st line, for molded, read moulded. 25, 18th line, for lent, read bent.

37, 11th liue from bottom, for had, read has. 46, 7th line, for adherance, read adherence. 46, 12th line from bottom, for ipsi, read ipse. 46, 9th line from bottom, iovfour, read few. 63, 4th line, f oi dxardAUzoz, read dfcardhro^. 70, 14th line frum bottom, for dcdioz, read dcdtO£. 96, 14th line, for is, read are. 98, 14th line from bottom, for union, read unison. 108, 14th line from oottom, iorpityeth, read pitieth.

118, last line, for has Carcassonne, read has his Carcassonne*

119, 3d line, for posession, read possession. 125, last line, for belittleing, read belittling. 136, 10th line from bottom, for detre read d'etre. 140, 12th line, for or, read on.

143, 7th line from bottom, for each, read every.

144, 11th line from oottom, for replyest, read repliest.

160, 6th and 7th lines, for state knowledge, read state of knowledge.

164, 5th line from bottom, for the, read they.

170, 1st line, for no, read on.

174, 9th line from bottom, for second, read second.

181, 16th line, for theoglogians, read theologians.

188, 9th line, for oe made /ar more realistic, read be far more keenly realized.

Part I

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL NOT CAPABLE OF SOLUTION ON THE BASIS OF A HOPELESS FUTURE PUNISH- MENT, OR OF ANNIHILATION.

THE DEATH OF DEATH.

Chapter I. Preliminary Narrative And Statement Of The

QUESTION.

ON a range of elevated hills about three miles from Alexandria, in the State of Virginia, and commanding an extensive and beautiful bird's eye view of that town, of Washington city, of the Potomac river and of the adjacent country, stands the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the diocese.

A little more than thirty-five years ago there stood on the same range of hills on either side of the Seminary, and distant from it a quarter and half a mile respectively, two large schools for boys. One of these schools still exists there, growing in vigor and usefulness as its years increase.

The boys of these two schools worshiped at the Seminar}' chapel, located on the central hill of the range on which the three stood, and the two tides of buoyant and vigorous youth met and mingled within its walls on Sabbath mornings and evenings, and at other seasons, each receiving and bestowing the inevitable sympathies of such association. On the boys of these two schools were exerted ceaselessly the holy influences of God's blessed Word, intensified in their effects by the heavenly atmosphere of this " School of the Prophets " which lay between them — an atmosphere which, to the spiritually-minded, seemed a perpetual incense crowning that favored hill, and rising up, day and night, in 'grateful adoration to God. At least thus it seemed to one of those boys who lived there for five years, from 1838 to 1843 ; and, as in after life, even to this day, he has looked forth on this sad earth, and has seen five generations of the heralds of the cross who left that hill while he was there, bearing the glad tidings of God's peace with man, and planting the Rose of Sharon in every desert land, he has felt and still feels that what to him was then seeming only, was in truth a great reality. For these thirty-five years, in America, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa and in the " isles of the sea," these five generations of Christian champions have waged perpetual war against the kingdom of "sin, Satan and death," and revealed the glorious light of the "Sun of Righteousness" to those who "sit in darkness." Some of them, veteran soldiers of the "King of Kings," still fight in the fore-front of this life-long battle; while the greater part, at His command, have sheathed their swords, yielded their places to younger soldiers and have themselves entered into the full blaze of that uncreated light, which, with feebler rays, once attended their steps and lit up the gloom of sin and sorrow which surrounded them here.

In addition to the sacred influences of the place itself? it was frequently favored, from time to time, by the presence of distinguished preachers — Bishops and Presbyters— from all parts of the country, on official and other visits* bringing with them fresh sheaves of holy zeal, of prayer, of praise, and of the manna of the Word, all ripened by mature experience and increase of faith and love. Such means of grace as were enjoyed there could not, surely, be surpassed on earth ; and, doubtless, thousands have looked

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION. 5

back on that trysting place of the saints — one at least has— as a very Pisgah, from which were often caught bright glimpses of the "promised land."

On one of his official visits, during the period stated, the late venerable Bishop Meade, of Virginia, occupied the pulpit, and preached from the text: " Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed" (Gen. xix, 17). That sermon lingers in the memory to this day. It produced a tremendous effect on scores of youthful minds and hearts, as well as upon those of riper years. The Bishop returned to the discharge of other duties in various parts of his large diocese, but left behind him a most profound interest and anxiety about spiritual things. The opportunity was not to be lost. Religious services, prayer meetings, sermons, were multiplied. Distinguished preachers came from different directions to participate, and the impressions made by the Bishop's address were deepened and prolonged by every means in the power of the Christian ministers and people of the neighborhood. As might have been expected, many who had scarcely bestowed a thought on their soul's salvation were brought under the influence of sacred truths; while many, who were faithful before, were refreshed and quickened. For months these scenes went on, and the effect on the two schools was wonderful. Many, of course, afterwards fell away, but others could date from that period, their earnest attention to the subject of religion.

All this was good — how good we shall only know hereafter — but now is to be mentioned that without which this book would never have been written.

Unfortunately, in that day more than in this, the doctrine of exquisite and unending punishment was considered the most effectual weapon that could be wielded from the pulpit, and was taught with the energy and described with the painful minuteness of the mediaeval age. The gates of hell were constantly kept open, and the lurid glare of its pitiless fires was cast upon trembling congregations with relentless pertinacity. Among the ministers who visited our " hill of Zion " in this period were some whose preaching was of this type. Their chief force was expended on this theme, and souls already seeking to escape the burden of their sins, and feeling their way after Christ, were so shocked and terrified, that their eyes were kept fixed on the abyss below instead of being lifted in love to him who bore their sins for them "in his own body on the tree."

It is impossible to record here the spiritual experiences of various individuals during this eventful period — time would fail to do so. One case only, better known than that of others, will be recorded.

Among those who attended one of these schools was a youth of about fifteen years of age. Perhaps Samuel's mother did not give him to the Lord with a more yearning desire that he would accept the gift, than did the mother of this boy from the day of his birth. At this early age he believed himself a Christian. He knew no period of his life that he did not look up to God as his Father, and feel that he was reconciled to him by the blood of Christ. He rejoiced at the religious interest around him, and greatly enjoyed the increased earnestness and zeal manifested on every hand in the prayers and praises of the people of God. He had not as yet been confirmed, waiting for that purpose, whether right or wrong, a maturer age. Now, of course, the subject pressed earnestly on him, and would have ended in his confirmation, but for the distress of mind excited by the preaching above referred to.

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION. 7

He heard learned, eloquent and holy men, to whom he looked up with reverence, constantly pouring out in dismal tones the dirges of the damned. They went into the minutest particulars, dissecting the lost soul and displaying its quivering nerves, agonized beneath the relentless wrath of God. Illustrations such as these were constantly employed :

You know what exquisite agony it is to burn your finger, how it aches and throbs with almost intolerable anguish — now imagine your whole body bathed in a fierce undying flame, and conceive, if you can, the unutterable torture to which you will be subjected; while all the time the blazing eye of an offended God is bent in vengeance on your smitten soul. Could you endure one instant of it ? Will you neglect to come to Him now at the risk of such hideous and everlasting ruin? Ah ! that's the worst of it — everlasting woe, never-ending fire, torture unspeakable and eternal. And consider what eternity is. A school- session seems a long time to you — a lifetime seems to you almost unending — but this is nothing to eternity. If it should be your dismal fate to sink into that dreadful abyss of hideous ruin, you will spend a lifetime, yea, many lifetimes, but eternity will have just begun. You will abide there till after the story of this world shall have been told, till sun, moon and stars shall have been burned up, till the elements shall have melted with fervent heat, and the heavens shall have rolled together like a scroll; but eternity will have just begun. Millions and billions of ages will roll away over your devoted head, and these multiplied by countless millions and billions more shall pass away; but to your agonized cry — "How long shall these intolerable burnings eat into my soul?" — the dreadful voice of your " Father in Heaven," with appalling thunder, shall reply — " Eternity has just begun, and it shall never, never see an end of your well-deserved misery and despair. Hope has never entered your drear abode, nor can her lightsome wing cross the dread abyss between you and this heavenly land." And then His dreadful eye shall blaze through and through all the dark secrets of your soul, and you will lie still, paralyzed by that awful gaze — the helpless victim of eternal death.

In this style many solemn services were saddened; and subdued souls shrank away in dreadful horror at their liability to miss the "narrow way" and fall into this broad and dismal gulf — the descent to which was described to be so easy that by far the largest portion of mankind would surely sink beneath its waves. It was not a wholesome fear, such as a true interpretation and presentment of God's holy word is sure to produce; but a dumb, paralyzing fear that crushed sensitive souls, and made the bold and skeptical blaspheme. God was painted sometimes (of course unconsciously by the preacher) as a remorseless tyrant, but at the same time described as just — much in the same way, though not in the same terms, as Melancthon once maintained that " God wrought all things, evil as well as good;" that he was "the author of David's adultery and the treason of Judas, as well as of Paul's conversion." Sometimes sermons were preached describing an offended God, in tone, if not in words, as bad as the following from a sermon — " Sinners in the hands of an angry God " — by even so great and good a man as Jonathan Edwards: "He will crush you under his feet without mercy; He will crush out your blood and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on His garments so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but He will have you in the utmost contempt," &c. Inspired wisdom (Isaiah lxiii, 3) uses a portion of this language in a highly figurative de-

STATEMENT OP THE QUESTION. 9

scription of the triumph of Christ over the Gentile enemies of Jerusalem or of his church. But here, man dares to add to it; to apply it enlarged, intensified and literally to God's alleged rage and vengeance against the individual sinner; and to paint the great and good Jehovah as crushing under His feet without mercy His helpless creature — crushiny out his blood and making it fly.

Under such preaching the display of the love of Christ, which was faithfully and tenderly made, lost nearly all its force. The shocked and terrified soul could not see it in its true beauty and power, through the murky mists and fogs thus cast around it.

The effect of such teaching on the youth, whose spiritual experiences we are describing, was unutterably horrible. He had looked habitually on the benigner side of spiritual truth. He had looked on God as his " Father in Heaven," and in raising his eyes by night or by day to the firmament above him, or looking around him upon earth, he could see written everywhere in rainbow beauty over his visible universe, on matter and on man, in the light of His holy word, that alluring and inspiring truth " God is Love" — a truth older than when "the stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy" — a truth beaming from the primeval councils of the Eternal Trinity, but only manifested in its full beauty and amazing glory when the Divine Redeemer "tasted death for every man" (Heb. ii, 9).

The new teaching he was now receiving, the new revelation of God, made to him by those whom he justly revered, and whose arguments he was unable to answer, filled him with dismay — not for himself, for he believed that he was safe in Christ, but at the overthrow of his sweet visions of the Father's face, at the dreadful question, "was he indeed such as he was described?" At first appalled, and then stunned as by a sudden blow, he ceased almost to think, his joy in God withered like a flower beneath a hoar-frost, he lost all interest in the sports or occupations of boyhood, he frequented solitudes — in thickets, in garrets and in desert places — seeking rest and finding none; agonizing for peace in prayers which seemed not to penetrate the heavens, but to rebound as from a brazen sky. Thus he suffered from a sense of untold loneliness and desertion ; as a child in outer darkness, who wails for the guidance of its father's hand.

And so long months of anguish passed, until it seemed that if it should continue indefinitely, his reason would give way and the darkness of utter nothingness would settle down around him. Meantime, his interest in religious things being known, he was repeatedly invited to be a candidate for confirmation; but to the surprise of others, he sadly declined without assigning any reason for it. In truth, he feared now that he was a hardened sinner, obstinate, self-willed, and, perhaps, possessed of the devil, since he did not accept with joy, but groaned in spirit, and struggled against a recognition of God as now disclosed to him. He felt that he did not believe what had been preached, and fought against his unbelief. He did not dare deliberately to repudiate it or to search into these great questions. He feared he might be guilty of blasphemous presumption in doing so. He even feared that he was an atheist or an infidel, setting up idols of his own for worship, instead of bowing down in humble self-renunciation before the true God of heaven and earth, who had been disclosed to him in his most fearful attributes by his ministers, in order that he might be aroused from his fond dreams, and seek the salvation of his soul in a different way from that which he had hitherto believed the

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION. 11

right way. He therefore kept all his sad and troubled thoughts shut up in his own bosom. When Christian ministers and others tendered their sympathy and aid and sought his confidence, he did not extend it to them, because he was unwilling that his unbelief and hardness of heart should be known to them; for he felt that he could not make them understand the whole case, and that they would condemn him, and so increase his misery instead of comforting him. To God alone was he willing to confess it all; for though he scarcely knew now whether he prayed to the God of his childhood or the God of late revealed to him, yet down in his heart of heart he felt that the Father of all was still his Father; that He knew the end from the beginning ; that he knew all his secret motives, and saw and sympathized with his helpless creature struggling for light, and feeling after him if haply he might find him.

As before said, he had been stunned, and therefore for a long time he did know precisely the cause of his condition. Besides, his wearied mind and heart shrank like an exposed nerve from an analysis of his thoughts. It was only after long months of dumb, still suffering, and then gradually, step by step, that he was enabled to realize and define plainly to himself the causes of his malady.

At last it shaped itself in his mind thus:

First. He had been taught by those who were beyond doubt striving to know God for themselves and in order that they might teach others; by those whom he justly loved and revered as ministers of Christ's gospel; by those who were his saints, as surely as were any on earth or in heaven, that the God whom he worshiped with the simple faith of childhood as a God of love — love infinite and divine to all His creatures on earth — was in truth a God of love to only a portion of them, such as should come to Christ in this brief life, but was a God of vengeance, infinite, divine, unending and inexorable, to the far larger number.