way; walk ye in it. But He does not take hold of us like a policeman, and force us to walk in that way. No one can be forced to heaven for no one can be forced to shun evils as sins, nor to love what is good and true for its own sake. To go to heaven, we must freely comply with the conditions; and the conditions are, that we voluntarily obey the laws of the heavenly life;—that we struggle with and overcome our selfish and evil propensities;—that we deny self, take up our cross, and follow the Lord in the regeneration.
Such, briefly, is the New doctrine concerning hell—where it is, what it is, and how to escape it. Is there anything in it absurd and revolting, as we have seen that there is in the Old? Is there anything here against which enlightened reason utters its emphatic protest?—anything which impugns the wisdom or love of our Heavenly Father?
But how does this doctrine, it will be asked, accord with the teaching of Scripture? It may be reasonable—far more reasonable than the Old doctrine. But is it also Scriptural? This is the question—and an important one it is, too—which next claims and will receive attention.
