Everything that lies within, without, around, or above us, speaks of God’s unfailing love towards his children. He has placed us under his moral government, the violation of whose laws brings suffering. The same is true also in our relation to the laws of Nature. When we break them we suffer for it; and the suffering is conditional. I put my hand into a blazing fire, and immediately I feel the effect of my imprudence. I then take my hand back from the fire, and resolve not to put it there again. If I try the experiment again, the same suffering is inevitable. The All-wise Father has so ordered, that the violation of his laws, physical or moral, will bring suffering;--suffering produces repentance;--repentance will beget reformation; and reformation will meet the approbation and smile of God. Such are his laws, and they must do their mission. He punishes to cure, and not to kill. “He wounds for his mercy’s sake,--He wounds to heal.” “The parable of the Prodigal Son,” verifies this truth. When the son wanted to have his portion given to him, the good father knew well what would be his lot, by and by. Yet he did not interfere with his wish, for he had made him a free moral agent. The child leaves his paternal abode, and spends his portion, his energies, in riotous living. He becomes poor, has nothing to eat, and takes care of swine;--the _very_ menial business in Oriental countries. His sufferings create repentance in his bosom, and he starts for his father’s home. What did the father do? Did he say, “Go from me forever, and live in everlasting misery?” No. He is too good, too loving to say that. He comes out of the house, welcomes the wanderer back, clothes him with the best robe, and makes a feast. In the Bible there is mention of everlasting fire; but the words are not in meaning according to what they sound. If they were literally true, they would falsify Christ’s “parable of the prodigal son.” It is a common Oriental way of describing the state of unhappiness. When a boy I read these things in Hindoo books. “It is said, Jom, or Death, has his angels, who dip sinners in boiling oil. They fix large hooks in their throats and drag them on some high places. They cause them to embrace pillars of fire, and finally thrust them in ‘Nonuck Coondoo,’ or pit of dirt, in which ‘kit’ (a worm) dieth not.”