th,
to be sinful here and lost hereafter, and then prescribes to them a
hard and difficult path, beset by clamorous guides, pointing in a
hundred different directions, bidding them find the intricate way to
His Heart, or perish. The truth is the precise opposite. The divine
voice says to every man: "Hampered and sore hindered as you are, you
are yet My dearly beloved son and child; only turn to Me, only open
your heart to Me, only struggle, however faintly, to be what you can
desire to be, and I will guide and lead you to Myself; all that is
needed is that your heart should be on My side in the battle. Even your
sins matter little, provided that you can say sincerely, 'If it were
mine to choose and ordain, I would never willingly do evil again.' I
know, better even than you yourself know, your difficulties, your
temptations, your weaknesses; the sorrow they bring upon you is no
dreary and vindictive punishment, it is the loving correction of My
hand, and will bring you into peace yet, if only you will trust Me, and
not despair."

The world is full of dreadful things, pains and sorrow and miseries,
but the worst of all are the dreary wretchednesses of our own devising.
The old detestable doctrine of Hell, the idea that the stubborn and
perverse spirit can defy God, and make its black choice, is simply an
attempt to glorify the strength of the human spirit and to belittle the
Love of God. It denies the truth that God, if He chose, could show the
darkest soul the beauty of holiness in so constraining a way that the
frail nature must yield to the appeal. To deny this, is to deny the
omnipotence of the Creator. No man would deliberately reject peace and
joy, if he could see how to find them, in favour of feverish evil and
ceaseless suffering. If we believe that God is perfect love, it is
inconceivable that He should make a creature capable of defying His
utmost tenderness, unless He had said to Himself, "I will make a poor
wretch who shall defy Me, and he shall suffer endlessly and mercilessly
in consequence." The truth is that God's Omnipotence is limited by His
Omnipotence; He could not, for instance, abolish Himself, nor create a
power that should be greater than He. But if He indeed can give to evil
such vitality that it can defy Him for ever, then He is creating a
power that is stronger than Himself.

While the mystery of evil is unexplained, we must all be content to
know that we do not know; for the thing is insolub