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by Sir Robert Anderson it must not be confounded with the judgment of the “ great white throne.” From judgment in that sense the be liever has absolute immunity: “ he cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life” (John 5:24), is the Lord’s explicit declara tion. He gives the “ right to become the children of God” “ to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12); and it is not by recourse to a criminal court that we deal with the lapses and misdeeds of our children. Degrees of Rewards and Punishments Man is a sinner in virtue both of what he is and what he does. We do what we ought not, and leave undone what we ought to do. For sin may be due to ignorance or carelessness, as well as to evil passions which incite to acts that stifle conscience and out rage law. And we have seen also that every sin gives rise to two great ques tions which need to be distinguished, though they are in a sense insepar able. The one finds expression in the formula, “ guilty or not guilty,” and in respect of this no element of limi tation or degree is possible. But after verdict, sentence; and when punish
T hough the supreme issue of the destiny of men does not await that awful inquest, “ Judgment to come” is a reality for all. For it is of the people of God that the Word de clares “ we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” and “ every one of us shall give account of him self to God” (Rom. 14:10, 12). And the judgment will bring reward to some and loss to others. Incalculable harm results from that sort of teach ing which dins into the ears of the unconverted that they have the power to live a pure and decent life, and which deludes the Christian into thinking that at death he will forfeit his personality by losing all knowl edge of the past, and that heaven is a fool’s paradise where waters of Lethe will wipe out our memories of earth. “We must all be made man ifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, accord ing to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). But this judgment of “ the bema of Christ” has only an incidental bearing on the theme of the present article, and 20
ment is in question, degrees of guilt are infinite. It has been said that no two of the redeemed will have the same heaven; and that in that sense no two of the lost will have the same hell. This is not a concession to popular heresies on this subject. For the figment of a hell of limited duration either tra duces the character of God, or prac tically denies the work of Christ. If the extinction of being were the fate of the impenitent, to keep them in suffering for an aeon or a century would savor of the cruelty of a tyrant who, having decreed a criminal’s death, deferred the execution of the sentence in order to torture him. Far worse indeed than this, for, ex hy- pothesi, the resurrection of the unjust could have no other purpose than to increase their capacity for suffering. Or, if we adopt the alternative heresy — that hell is a punitive and purga torial discipline through which the sinner will pass to heaven — we dis parage the atonement and undermine the truth of grace. If the prisoner gains his discharge by serving out his sentence, where does grace come in? THE KING'S BUSINESS
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