their pride and love of self and greed of gain and lust of power prompt.
Multitudes of this class pass from the natural into the spiritual world every year. Some of them ultimate their supreme selfishness here, in words and deeds befitting devils—in falsehood, fraud, theft, blasphemy, adultery, murder and other abominations. But some of them are, outwardly, quite respectable people. Some of them are members of churches—professedly very religious; and at times, when they have some selfish end to serve, they are (on the outside, at least) kind and benevolent. But inwardly, at heart, they are supremely selfish. It is this class (and they are to be found among Christians today, as certainly as they were among the Jews eighteen hundred years ago) whom our Lord addresses when He says: "For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also, outwardly, appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Every one's real character depends on the quality of his heart—on the nature, that is, of his ruling love. All whose ruling love is the love of self, are devils at heart, though they may be saints to outward appearance.
Now the Lord does not desire to punish these people in anyway—either in this world or in the world to come. He does not desire that they should suffer, nor permit them to suffer, except for their own ultimate good. He
