I beseech every reader of this paper, in all tender affection, to beware of false views of the subject on which I have been dwelling. Beware of new and strange doctrines about hell and the eternity of punishment. Beware of manufacturing a God of your own,--a God who is all mercy, but not just,--a God who is all love, but not holy,--a God who has a heaven for everybody, but a hell for none,--a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and bad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as really as Jupiter or Moloch,--as true an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple,--as true an idol as was ever moulded out of brass or clay. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and besides the God of the Bible there is no God at all. Your heaven would be no heaven at all. A heaven containing all sorts of characters indiscriminately would be miserable discord indeed. Alas, for the eternity of such a heaven! there would be little difference between it and hell. There is a hell! There is a fire for the chaff! Take heed lest you find it out, to your cost, too late.
Beware of being wise above that which is written. Beware of forming fanciful theories of your own, and then trying to make the Bible square in with them. Beware of making selections from your Bible to suit your taste,--refusing, like a spoilt child, whatever you think bitter,--seizing, like a spoilt child, whatever you think sweet. What is all this but taking Jehoiakim's penknife? (Jer. xxxvi. 23.) What does it amount to but telling God, that you, a poor short-lived worm, know what is good for you better than He. It will not do: it will not do. You must take the Bible as it is. You must read it all, and believe it all. You must come to the reading of it in the spirit of a little child. Dare not to say, "I believe this verse, for I like it. I reject that, for I do not like it. I receive this, for I can understand it. I refuse that, for I cannot reconcile it with my views." Nay, but, O man, "who art thou that repliest against God?" (Rom. ix. 20.) By what right do you talk in this way? Surely it were better to say over every chapter in the Word, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."--If men would do this, they would never deny hell, the chaff, and the fire.
And now, let me say four things in conclusion, and then I have done. I have shown the two great classes of mankind, the wheat and the chaff.--I have shown the separation which will one day take place.--I have shown the safety of the Lord's people.--I have shown the fearful portion of the Christless and unbelieving.--I commend these things to the conscience of every reader of this paper, as in the sight of God.
(1) First of all, settle it down in your mind that the things of which I have been speaking are _all real and true_.
I do believe that many never see the great truths of religion in this light. I firmly believe that many never listen to the things they hear from ministers as realities. They regard it all, like Gallio, as a matter of "names and words," and nothing more; a huge shadow,--a formal part-acting,--a vast sham. The last novel, the latest news from France, India, Australia, Turkey, or New York,--all these are things they realize: they feel interested and excited about them. But as to the Bible, and heaven, and the kingdom of Christ, and the judgment day,--these are subjects that they hear unmoved: they do not really believe them. If Layard had dug up at Nineveh anything damaging the truth and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, it would not have interfered with their peace for an hour.
If you have unhappily got into this frame of mind, I charge you to cast it off for ever. Whether you mean to hear or forbear, awaken to a thorough conviction that the things I have brought before you are real and true. The wheat, the chaff, the separation, the garner, the fire,--all these are great realities,--as real as the sun in heaven,--as real as the paper which your eyes behold. For my part, I believe in heaven, and I believe in hell. I believe in a coming judgment. I believe in a day of sifting. I am not ashamed to say so. I believe them all, and therefore write as I do. Oh, take a friend's advice,--live as if these things were true.
(2) Settle it down in your mind, in the second place, that the things of which I write _concern yourself_. They are your business, your affair, and your concern.