hen
sitting down to another onslaught, "do you mean to say that a man will
go to hell if he is not converted, as you call it?"

"Yes, I do; and I am quite sure that if I had died in an unconverted
state I should have gone there; and this compels me to believe, also,
that what the Scripture says about it is true for every one."

"But what does the Scripture say?" he interposed. "It says that 'he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed' (John
3:18); and in another place, 'tie that believeth not shall be damned'
(Mark 16:16). As surely as the believer is saved and goes to heaven, as
surely the unbeliever is lost and must So to hell."

"Do you mean Gehenna, the place of torment?"

"Yes, I do."

"This is very dreadful."

"More dreadful still." I said, "must be the solemn reality; and
therefore, instead of shrinking from the thought and putting it off, I
rather let it stir and rouse me to warn unbelievers, so that I may, by
any means, stop them on their dangerous path. I think this is the only
true and faithful way of showing kindness; and that, on the other hand,
it is the most selfish, heartless, and cruel unkindness to let sinners,
whether they are religious, moral, reformed, or otherwise, to go on in
an unconverted state, and perish."

"Do you believe, then," said my visitor, "in the fire of hell? Do you
think it is a material fire?"

"I do not know; I do not wish to know anything about it. I suppose
material fire, like every other material thing, is but a shadow of
something real. Is it not a fire which shall burn the soul--a fire that
never will be quenched--where the worm will never die?"

"Do you really believe all this?"

"Yes," I said, "and I have reason to do so." I remembered the anguish of
soul I passed through when I was under conviction, and the terrible
distress I felt for others whom I had misled. "When our blessed Lord was
speaking to the Jews, and warning them against their unbelief and its
fearful consequences, He did not allow any 'charitable hopes' to hinder
Him from speaking the whole truth. He told them of Lazarus, who died,
and went to Paradise, or Abraham's bosom; and of Dives, who died, and
went to Hell, the place of torment" (Luke 16).

"But," he said, interrupting me, "that is only a parable, or figure of
speech."

"Figure of speech!" I repeated. "Is it a figure of speech that the rich
man fared sumptuously, that he died, that he was buried? Is not that