Second, men who accept a loose doctrine regarding the ultimate penalty
of sin, be it Universalism, Restorationism, or Annihilationism, or
that fantastic combination, or conglomeration, of them all, Millennial
Dawnism, lose their power for God. I have seen this proven over and
over again. These men may be and are very clever at argument, and very
zealous in proselyting, but they are seldom found beseeching men to
be reconciled to God. They are far more likely to be found trying to
upset the faith of those already won by the efforts of those who do
believe in everlasting punishment than trying to win men who have no
faith at all. If you really believe the doctrine of the endless torment
of the impenitent, if the doctrine really gets hold of you, you will
work as you never worked before for the salvation of the lost. If you
in any wise abate the doctrine, it will abate your zeal. Time and time
again I have come up to this awful doctrine and tried to find some way
of escape from it, but when I have failed, as I always have failed at
last, when I have determined to be honest with the Bible and myself,
I have returned to my work with an increased burden for souls and an
intensified determination to spend and be spent for their salvation.
Eternal, conscious suffering, suffering without the least ray of
hope of relief, awaits every one of you here to-night who goes on
persistently rejecting Jesus Christ, as you are rejecting Him to-night,
and who shall pass out of this world having rejected Him. In that world
of never ending gloom there will be no possibility of repentance. As
you look out into the future there will not be one single ray of hope.
"Forever and ever" will be the unceasing wail of that restless sea of
fire. After you have been there ten million years and look out toward
the future you will see eternity still stretching on and on and on and
on, with no hope. Oh, men and women out of Christ, why will you risk
such a doom for a single year, or a month, or a week, or a day? Hell
is too awful to risk for five minutes the chance of going there. There
is but one rational thing for you to do, that is to accept Christ and
accept Him _right now_ as your Saviour, surrender to Him as your Lord
and Master, confess Him as such before the world, and strive from this
time on to please Him in everything day by day. Any other course is
utter madness.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
When a book of the Bible has multiple volumes, the volume is sometimes
referenced with a number and sometimes with a Roman numeral. These
references remain as in the original.
The abbreviations "i.e." and "e.g." were both spaced and unspaced in
the original. Spelling has been made consistent throughout the text.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original.
Ellipses match the original.
The following corrections have been made to the original text:
Page iv: By R. A.[period missing in original] Torrey
Page 15: (1 Cor. 12:406 R. V.[original has "RV"])
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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