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, THE KING’S BUSINESS
ye shall die in your sins.” Finally, in Mark 16:16, we find the' words: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbeliveth shall be con demned.” A careful consideration of these passages, and especially of the last, will help to remove one great difficulty with regard to the whole subject, namely, the future state of those who have never had the Gospel so plainly presented to them as to enable them to deliberately accept or reject Christ, to willingly believe the good news or wilfully disbelieve it. Another difficulty is removed when we realize that our Lord taught that there would be different degrees in hell as in heaven. Thus, in Matt. 11:20-24 He taught that it would be “more tolerable in the day of judgment” for Tyre and Sidon than for Chorazin and Bethsaida, and for Sodom than for Capernaum; and in Mark 12:40 He speaks of “greater damnation.” It is clear that future retribution will be pro portioned to the amount of guilt com mitted and of grace rejected. (See also Luke 12:47, 48; John 19:11). We have so far examined, as thoroughly as possible within this limited space, all the recorded words of our Lord which bear on this important subject. It only remains, in conclusion, very briefly to point out that the whole drift of Christs teach ing confirms what we learn from these iso lated passages, and that future retribution is not merely an incidental but a funda
mental part of the Gospel message. It is the dark background on which its loving invitations and tender expostulations are presented, and the Gospel message loses much of its force when the doctrine is left out. But, worst of all, the earnest exhor tations to immediate repentance and faith lose their urgency if the ultimate result will be the same if those duties are post poned beyond the present life. , Is it seri ously contended that Judas will eventually be as John, Nero as Paul, Ananias and Sapphira as Priscilla and Aquila? Finally, the doctrines of heaven and hell seem to stand or fall together, for both rest upon the same Divine revelation, both are described metaphorically, and both have the same word “everlasting” applied to their duration. If the threatenings of God’s Word are unreliable, so may the promises be; if the denunciations have no real meaning, what becomes of the invi tations? Ruskin well terms the denial of hell “the most dangerous, because the most attractive, form of modern infidelity.” But is it so modern? Is it not an echo of the devil’s insinuating doubt: “Yea, hath God said” ? followed by his insistent denial, “Ye shall not surely die,” which led to the fall of man? Let us, therefore, believe God’s truth, rather than the devil’s lie; let us accept Divine revelation, rather than human speculation; and let us heed what Christ so plainly taught, without mitigat ing, modifying, or minimizing His solemn warnings.
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