He spoke of
matters beyond the cognizance of sense, and beyond even the range of
imagination, and therefore in the nature of the case we cannot fully
understand his words. But He who utters this solemn warning knows what
we understand by "a furnace of fire," and by "wailing and gnashing of
teeth:" he intends to convey to us, regarding sufferings that are not
only unknown, but in our present condition to us unknowable, as clear
and deep and awe-inspiring an impression as our minds are capable of
receiving. He leads our minds in that direction as far as they can
follow; and, for the rest, darkness will cover it until "that day." In
the direction downward unto death, as well as upward unto life, the word
holds good, "What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter."
Either line, when it crosses the border of this life, "passeth all
understanding." I suppose it is as completely impossible for a human
heart to conceive what God hath prepared for them that hate him, as to
conceive what he hath prepared for them that love him.

It is eminently noteworthy here, that the clearest, most articulate, and
most emphatic announcements regarding the positive punishment of the
wicked in a future world which the Scriptures contain, were spoken, and
spoken repeatedly, by the lips of the Lord Jesus. Wherefore? Did the
love of the Redeemer sometimes wax cold? Did even he, through the
provocations that he met in his ministry, sometimes forget to be
gracious? No; never at any time did his heart melt more with tenderness
for men than when he proclaimed that the wicked shall be cast into outer
darkness. He not only intimated, as in this parable, that such sentence
would be pronounced, but declared that himself would pronounce it: "When
the Son of man shall come in his glory ... then shall he say unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. xxv. 31-41). He who
uttered these words pitied and loved sinners; he loved them while he
spoke these words; he loved them although he spoke these
words;--_because_ he loved them, he spoke these words. The thing which
these words declare is true: Christ did not change the eternal law of
God that evil shall not dwell in his presence: since this law remains
beyond the line of the present world to meet every man as he enters
eternity, it was kind to give us warning. It would have been unkind, and
therefore unlike the Lord, to con